Tales of Uzumaki Naruto
by crazy james
Summary: Thanks to a mistake during the sealing, Kushina's consciousness is left to roam her son's mind, to complete her purpose in a day to day basis, instead of only one time. First fic, rating may go up, Naruto/Fuu
1. Prologue

**Full sumary, if you don't want to read it, then you can skip to the first chapter**

When the kyuubi no kitsune attacked, Hundreds of lives were lost, both civilian and ninja alike, his tails caused all kinds of natural disasters with a swing.

The ninja fought bravely, trying to contain it, but they couldn't do much, in the end it fell to the fourth hokage and his dying wife to stop it.

They sealed the fox inside of their newly born baby, with hopes that it would never again rampage, and they sealed their consciousness as a failsafe, to help their son when he needed it the most.

But the sealing of his wife went wrong, and her consciousness would be left to roam her son's mind, until such time he found her, and trapped inside him until the boy found a way to release her


	2. The scroll fiasco

**A/N: I don't own Naruto**

**This is AU, for this fanfic Naruto will be strong, but he won't be what I consider jonin level until AFTER a few weeks of the 'hero's water' OVA, until then he will start advancing from inexperienced chunin to low b-rank ninja, which is what I consider rookie jonins to be.**

**Also I will take suggestions for pairings, but it won't be priority.**

**One more thing, this is my first fic and English is not my first language, so excuse my mistakes and point them out so I don't make them again.**

Chapter 1

*Hokage monument.*dusk, 8:00 pm*

A young boy was sitting on a spike of the yondaime's stone hair. If one were to see the boy's gaze they would think that he was staring at the horizon, thinking some deep thoughts, and, in a way, they would be right.

But the thing they would most likely notice would be his appearance, he had a black shirt that covered his chest and upper arms, over the shirt he had a dark red vest, left open, with two pockets on each side, and an orange fox curled on itself on the back, his pants were a dark blue, with a pouch on each tight, tattoos covered his hands and forearms, along with his stomach, his face a bit feral, which, combined with the three, whisker-like marks on his cheeks made him look like a fox, his hair, however, was his most noteworthy, Being a vibrant yellow at the roots and a deep red at the tips, the colors made an orange fringe right where they touched.

The boy was named Uzumaki Naruto, and he was meditating under the morning sun, trying to improve the control he had over the energies raging inside him, but he couldn't concentrate on his life force, for on but one hour, he would be assigned to a team, he would be assigned to a formal teacher, rather than his mother, sealed inside him, he was nervous, it was the first day in four years that he would show his true self.

Checking his watch, the young Uzumaki threw himself from the spike he was on, to the small lake behind the Hokage tower. Twenty minutes later, he was back at the top of the mountain, walking to the forest with big scroll

*Konoha's forest.*night, 10:30 pm*

Naruto was sitting on a forest clearing, hunched over the scroll, reading the jutsus that were on it. He was trying to find a way to break the seal on his stomach, but try as he might, the only thing he saw were either suicidal techniques, incredibly chakra exhausting jutsus or things that could kill you if done wrong.

With a sigh, the tattooed boy copied three clone techniques, four fuuton jutus, five suiton and his idol's rasengan. (He would have copied the hiranshin too, had it been on the scroll)

* * *

*Hours later*around midnight*

The blond-red haired boy was panting, he was sure that he would fall asleep as soon as he laid down on his bed, but in his mind, it was worth it, he had managed to learn one of the Justus he copied from the scroll, the _kage bunshin no jutsu_, that let the user create solid but fragile copies of himself, granted, it wouldn't be of much use in battle, but if what he had read was true, he could make his training go faster, oh he wouldn't abuse the shadow clones for the memory feedback, his healing was fast, but he doubted he could survive suddenly experiencing hundreds of things at the same time, but using up to ten clones a time would definitely speed up the process.

He was about to open the scroll again when he heard leaves rustling nearby, he gathered his remaining energy and stood still, tensed, waiting for anything. Thirty seconds later Umino Iruka appeared on the clearing and Naruto relax, "he, I should have known you would find me, Iruka-nii." He said

"Seriously, seriously, you steal the forbidden scroll of seals, and the only thing you say when you see me is that" Iruka sighed "whatever, come, I'll take to the Hokage tower"

As he was making his way to Naruto, A giant shuriken embed itself on the ground between them, they turned their heads towards the source of the weapon.

"I knew it was a good idea following Iruka, after all, you are always the one that finds the demon after his pranks" A white-haired man was standing on a branch, arms crossed and an arrogant smirk on his face. "Now Naruto, why don't you give me the scroll so I can give you your hitai-ate"

"Naruto, run, take the scroll and run" Iruka had all his attention on Mizuki, and he knew that he could only win if he fought all out and playing tricks.

"Now why would he do that, I'm pretty sure he would like to know about Why the villagers hate him" that caught Naruto's attention, he would break that law? "Oh he does want to know, so I guess I will tell you. You see, remember the classes about the kyuubi atack?" Naruto was pretty sure he was going to insult his mother, that did not prepare him for what Iruka said

"Naruto don't listen to him, I know you, and whatever Mizuki is gonna say is a lie" that made Naruto really surprised, his eyes and mouth wide open, Irula knew his secret? Then why hadn't he acted like the other villagers? Yes he knew he was hated, and even then, the day he met the man, the only thing he saw in his eyes was mirth, like if he was only regarding any other orphan wanting to become a ninja

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure, after all, you see the…" He was interrupted by Iruka returning the shuriken back at Mizuki, he blocked it with a pair of kunai, when the weapon fell to the floor he saw Iruka leaping at him, an angry expression on his face, kunai held in his hand on a reverse grip, ready to strike.

Mizuki simply scoffed, guarded and blocked the strike, leaving him and Iruka on a stalemate, but eventually he managed to overpower the chunnin teacher, throwing him to the ground below.

Iruka gasped, the air leaving his lungs, but managed to roll away and stand before a drop kick from his opponent was driven to the spot where he was but seconds ago.

Iruka saw Mizuki move, and raised his arms to block a kick to his chest, before grabbing the leg and throwing Mizuki to a tree close by.

Mizuki flipped mid-air, landing with his feet on the tree-trunk, he bent his knees, using the momentum gained to launch himself at Iruka, fist raised, aiming to the centrum.

The brown-haired man dodged to the right, managing to get out of the flying man's path. He turned around and threw a handful of shuriken at Mizui, who had just landed, and they connected.

Only for the traitor to turn into The Log, and appear behind Iruka, driving a kunai into his back.

The man gasped as the metal weapon pierced his flesh, and turned around to try to give the white-haired man a punch in the head, but it was blocked, and he has thrown to a tree, back first, to push the knife in deeper.

Only to be grabbed by a black and red blur, and left to lie down on the grass.

Naruto had watched the fight in fascination, the attacks he could barely follow, the force he knew could knock him out, it was the first time he had seen a battle without it being controlled by instructors, or not having to see the opponent hold back. He knew he could outwit both chunnin, but in a straight fight, he would be death.

But when he saw his onii-san get pierced and thrown, he didn't think, he just acted, grabbed him midair, and lied him face down on the ground.

"If you hurt him anymore" he growled, his head low and eyes covered by his spikes "I will return it, hundred fold" he raised his head, and Mizuki was surprised by the hatred on the boy's eyes, but he recovered and grinned.

"Yeah? And just how would you do that brat? After all, you are but a roach against me"

Naruto didn't rise to the taunt, instead, he moved his hands to the only seal of the jutsu he learned that night and said "_tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu._" And Mizuki fund himself surrounded by hundreds multicolored teens, the last thing he saw, were the copies jumping unto him.

Iruka could only look in awe at the horde of Narutos, impressed that an almost thirteen year old had that much chakra, 'no wonder he had a problem with the normal bunshin' he tought, and smiled as he looked at his surrogate otuoto.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he stared at Mizuki's bloodied form and scratched his head as he looked at his teacher, "I think I overdid it 'ttebayo" Iruka could only chuckle before wincing and getting help from the younger kid to go to the Hokage's office, where the red tipped boy would receive his forehead protector.

* * *

*Naruto's apartment*1:30am*

Naruto was asleep on his feet, but even then, the smile was fixed on his face, he had done it, he managed to become a gennin, even if it was with a unortodox method.

He walked from the door to his room, undressing as moved, trying to get to the bed before falling asleep. He put on his sleeping cap, and with a yawn, he fell face-first on the mattress.

* * *

*Mindscape*

Naruto's mind had changed a lot since his childhood, at first it had been a boiler room with leaks, but after eight years, it was no longer. Between his mother's affection, the people who liked him, and, to a lesser extent, the interactions with the Kurama, it became what most would call the most peaceful place they had ever seen.

It was an open space, with trees strewn about, a lake was of to the side, flower beds were abundant, bathing the place with a floral smell, the moon was high in the sky, lighting the place with an ethereal glow.

It was in the middle of his mind that a groggy Naruto found himself, wondering why had he gon there instead of the dream-land (He had wanted to visit the sea of ramen again, his las visit had been interrupted by the damn alarm clock), especially since he was still tired from the last day.

It was during his musings that he was tackled by nine-tailed, dog sized fox, who was grinning like a lunatic, this fox was dark orange, with shadows around his eyes, that were a deep red, shining with mirth.

"Kurama get of, I wanna sleep 'ttebayo." Naruto grumbled, but Kurama's grin only got bigger.

"**Nah, I'll stay here**" the fox said in amusement "**You are particularly comfortable t****oday**" Naruto only managed a tired glare "**Now don't give me that look, we called you here for a reason**" It was then that Naruto heard a laugh from his right

"Kurama, let Naru-kun up, I want to talk with him" Uzumaki Kushina was a beautiful woman, with her fair skin, flaming red hair that matched her personality, slightly round face with noble features, amethyst eyes and hourglass figure, many would fight to be close to her.

She was wearing a blue kimono with several spirals on it, a purple obi around her waist, and an amused smile on her face.

"Hi, Kaa-chan, thank you" He was referring to the fact that he had had touble breathing with kurama on his chest.

Naruto had met his mother and the kyuubi when he was five years old, he had passed out from exhaustion after three days on the street with no place to sleep, since then most of his afternoons passed with him following his mother's regime or simply talking with them, either on his mindscape or loosing himself on the horizon.

"You're welcome sochi, but we do have to talk 'ttebane" One of the things that ran on the family was the verbal tick "Now that you are a shinobi, we'll have to up your training, especially with your clones on it"

"**He'll have to wait for his team to be**** assigned,**" Kurama interrupted "**your training will have to be scheduled to not interrupt his teacher's, and I plan to train him to**"

The blond-rooted boy was shocked, it would be the first time the fox stepped in on his training, and he was already thinking of all the things he would learn, he imagined himself spouting fox-fire, and fighting along a summon.

But his fantasy was interrupted by a tail in the head, launching him away and making him face-plant close to a tree, "Damn it you fox, do don't do that you ogarida ze baka*" unfortunately for Naruto, it was the tree his mother was leaning against.

"Don't curse in front of me, aho*" and as such, he received a punch on the scalp, slamming him on the ground again, of cpurs, the teen didn't have the guts to point out the irony of the statement.

"**As amusing it is to watch you two ningen, you should take the week off boy, no heavy training, if anything just continue your morning routine**" Kurma told him "**And your study with your mother, I want out of here already**" he mumbled the last part.

"Hai, can I sleep now, I'm tired, and I wanna visit Iruka-nii"

Kushina smiled and sat with her back restion on the tree trunk, and put her son's head on her lap, making him yawn and cudle, Kurama saw this and shrank, so he could fit between the arms of the boy he was sealed inside, that nitght, both fox and kid fell asleep to a mother's lulaby

* * *

**And chapter finished, for those that will ask, yes Kurama is a 'good' fox, if slightly childish. also, there are polls on my profile, please check them, and finally review, I need to know if you like this  
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**Traductions 1) roughly 'goddamn idiot  
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**2)dumbass  
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	3. Konohamaru

**A/N Second chapter up, remember english is my second language, review and check the poll on my profile.**

**Disclaimer: check chapter one**

**Meeting the 'Honorable grandson'**

*Naruto's apartment* noon*

'_**Rise and shine you little bugger, the sun is high, the birds singing and the dogs are humping!**_' Naruto was startled awake by Kurama's shout, so startled in fact, that he fell of the bed a tangled mess.

'_Don't be so crud_' He heard a punch '_you could have said that new lives are being created dattebane!_'

'_Please don't shout so early in the morning_' he grumbled, and was answered in a booming laugh

'_**Morning, says the little baka, look at the clock gaki, it's almost midday**_' Kyuubi was having a lot of fun that morning, he had made his prison hit his head and now he was causing migraine, all the while running from an angry mother he had woken up. He was looking forward to day.

But what he had said shocked Naruto, he had slept in, he would be late to take his registration photo unless he didn't take a shower, and he couldn't eat his morning dose of ramen, meaning he would be cranky until The Ramen had its daily sacrifice, and he would have to apiece The Log too, since as far as he knew, Mizuki wasn't a follower, and the traitor had used a kawarimi during his fight with Iruka. He knew his day would be, in the words of his Nara friend, troublesome.

The boy dressed quickly, the place of his usual attire taken by a full shirt that had the blue Uzumaki swirl on the front, he had also put on his forehead protector as a collar, and put goggles on his forehead, before bolting out of the window and to the roofs, jumping streets and alleys in a desperate effort to get to the Hokage tower before twelve.

During the way he found many shinobi patrolling the rooftops of Konoha, the poor bastards never stood a chance, Uzumaki Naruto tackled, pushed and shoved them out of his way, he even shocked a poor cat with a ribbon on its head, and the cat joined him in his run, he was running like the hounds of hell were after him, and he managed to get to his destination on time, despite the many angry chunnin after him.

'Made it 'ttebayo' A panting stamina machine looked at the animal at his side, and carefully removed the ribbon on its ear, after that, the cat took off again.

He entered the tower, a destination clear in his head, the place that would mark him as a ninja, the place that would make him a kid with a clear path to take.

*Hokage's office*thirty minutes later*

An old man in his late sixties, dressed in red robes sat behind a desk filled with papers, appraising the registration photo his surrogate grandson had gone with, he had expected something a bit more…Lively, if not eccentric.

"You know, I am surprised that you look serious on this, though I would have liked it more had you NOT brought your night cap with you." Indeed, had it not been for that, the boy on the picture would have been the image of nobility. The black shirt he had on with his family's spiral on front, combined with the steeled face and the ninja goggles, and the almost visible aura of regality were all ruined by the cap on top of his head, a hat that took the form of a grinning fox

"Mou, it's not my fault I over slept 'ttebayo, with what happened yesterday I didn't get to sleep until two jiji" the orange fringed boy was pouting, he wanted the photo to intimidate, not to make the female population scream 'KAWAIIII!' as his mother had when she saw the photo, or the male to laugh, as Kurama had done.

"Be it as it may, you can't take another photo since it already is afternoon," The old man was struggling to keep the grin of his face, out of sympathy to boy, but the pouting boy in front of him was just so amusing.

Said boy could only groan in disappointment, before grinning much like Kurama the night before, 'guess I'll have to pull another prank' He thought, before saying "fine, I'll be going now jiji, The Log and The Ramen demand my presence"

Now Sarutobi was openly smiling, his eyes dancing with mirth, thinking about how the boy took after both his parents. 'Seriously, it's like his parents left him a hand book on 'ways of lie' or something' If only he knew.

"So jiji, you still haven't figured out the secret to paperwork?" a pained face was his answer, "well its easy really, you just gotta use…" he was interrupted by a boy who looked three years younger than Naruto bursting into the office shouting a battle cry, before tripping with the scarf that was way too large on the frame of the boy, and looking back at Hiruzen, it probably happened often, so he did the only thing someone on his position could have done, he snorted, as did his tenants.

The boy groaned and sat up, rubbing the sore spot on his forehead, "someone must have placed traps" he muttered, before spotting the red-blond and glaring, "why the hell did you tripped me?" the brown-haired kid demanded.

'_Ser__iou__**sly**_' echoed the voices in his head, before he walked the fallen boy and picked him by his blue scarf, "don't blame people for your clumsiness dattebayo" both men were now in a glaring contest.

Another man had now busted into the office, wearing only blue, shades covering his eyes, his forehead protector sewn into a bandana, and while Naruto could feel glaring eyes, they did not feel as the usual ones he got from civilians.

"What are you doing gaki, put sandaime-sama's grandson down, immediately." Ah, so that was why the brat was let in

And said boy was looking smug, "Ha, you heard him" he said "I'm HIS (points at sarutobi) grandson, you gotta put me down"

Naruto looked at the man, then at the kid, and at the Hokage, "whatever, you're still a brat" he said, before throwing him at the couch "Right so, I'm going now jiji, mago no gaki*, teme." With that said he jumped out the window, he was at least three blocks away when he heard a shout of, "HE DIDN'T TELL ME THE SECRET"

* * *

*Konoha's main street* two hours later*

Naruto was annoyed; first someone had repeatedly interrupted his daily prayers to The Log by coming in and out of his detection range, then he had the feeling of being talked about somewhere, and lastly, someone now taken a BAD costume and trailed him where he went, and it was grating on his nerves.

Right now he was headed for his favorite restaurant in order to offer a sacrifice to The Ramen, and he was about to make it there, when he finally blew up.

"Ok why the hell are you following me dattebayo?" he shouted at a rock on the other side of the road, "EVERYONE knows that rocks aren't square!" as he had said, a bad costume.

He stood there, glaring at the 'rock', waiting for something to happen, and just as he was turning around, the box exploded in colorful smokescreens, after which he heard coughs and groans, he was seventy percent sure that it was the same kid from the Hokage's office, "heh so you did see me, not that I expected any less" And there it was, the same loud voice.

The blond-rooted boy sighed, and told the younger boy, "listen kid, if you got anything to say, the wait 'till I have my ramen, if not, then get lost" and he set of again.

* * *

*Ichiraku's*Ten minutes later*

The Ichiraku ramen stand was a small building, only big enough to house about a dozen people, apart from the chef and his daughter working in the kitchen, said people were some of the only civilians that saw Naruto as a person, and some may even think that Ichiraku Ayame, the owner's first and only daughter, had a crush on the red-tipped blond.

The owner, Ichiraku Teuchi was a man in his mid-to-late forties, with a heavy build; he wore a dirty apron over a white shirt, his hair was already starting to gray, but it was mostly covered by his hat.

His daughter, Ichiraku Ayame, was three years older than Naruto, she kept in shape, so her body was lean, and her brown hair was covered by a white bandana, except for a three bangs, two framing her face and one reaching her right brow.

Right now, she was watching the two boys in front of her, amused by the shocked face the younger of the two was displaying, obviously having never seen someone eat as much or as fast as the spiky-haired boy was eating.

After his fifth bowl Naruto began to slow down his eating to that of a normal person, allowing the scarfed boy to get out of his stupor and to start his own bowl. "So, what's your name? I doubt you want me to call you mago no gaki"

The boy looked up from his ramen, "my name is Konohamaru," Answered the boy, "I was named in honor of the village, so that I would always be known, but everyone sees me only as the 'honorable grandson' and never by me" The boy sniffed.

'_Who would have thought? His position is kinda like mine" _thought the Log practitioner, receiving an answer from his mother

'_Yes, I remember Tsunade telling us that she was like that before making herself a name'_

Konohamaru continued to speak "That's why I want to beat jii-chan, so everybody knows who _I_ am!" A snort from Kurama drove his attention inwards again.

'_**Sounds to me like a chance to corrupt the youth, make him your apprentice**_' Kushina tried to hit the fox, but it escaped before she could.

'_No, you can't have a student yet 'ttebane_' she opposed the idea, mainly because of the reaction it would bring '_Wait another couple of years_'

'_I could teach something like control, that would help him_' "Ok kid, you got me" he scratched the back of his neck "I will teach something" Konohamaru's eyes widened, and Naruto grew a smirk "But you gotta be fast dattebayo" Nauto threw his wallet to Ayame, confident that she would take care of it, and took off running, leaving behind a gaping kid and an amused waitress.

* * *

*Training ground #7*two hours later*

Naruto was grinning, and grinning hard; for the best part of the last two hours, he had led Konohamru in a merry chase throughout the village and the surrounding forests, and the kid had kept up with him, granted he had been weighted down, but still, it was impressive. "Well kid, you managed to impress me, so I will teach you something" he pointed to the tree, "Lay down with your feet on the trunk," Konohamaru looked confused, but did it nonetheless, "now channel chakra to your feet, to get them to stick to the trunk, but put too much, and you will get blasted, so careful"

Konohamaru immediately started, wanting to complete the exercise, while Naruto himself made a couple of shadow clone to practice a bit on both his taijutsu and on his kekkei genkai.

The Uzumaki clan was a strange one, apart from the passive kekei genkai that gave them a ready mind for seals and a large life force, once In a while, a kid would awaken on of the three active bloodlines, said kids would often be apprenticed by an adult that had the same ability.

The three bloodlines were this: Chakura chūnyū; that would allow a Uzumaki to either heal, poison or disrupt an enemy, it was basically what it said, by injecting the users potent chakra, and depending on the intention, the target would either be healed of superficial injuries at the rate of a normal Uzumaki, or it would act as a poison and either disrupt the target's feel for his own chakra, or killing them over-time. Most of the holders of the ability either specialized in support or in taijutsu

Then there was the Iten o kōgeki, the rarest of the three; by pushing the users chakra into any ninjutsu, the Uzumaki with this bloodline could redirect or cancel a justu, this is mainly because the dense chakra could neutralize the original one present in the technique. All holders were incredibly good ninjutsu users.

And lastly was the Kogane no buki, It gave the Uzumaki with it the ability to create weapons out of chakra, and they would be golden in color, hence the name. Weapons created by this are incredibly hard to break, and could be used as a focus, making them good for armed ninjutsu, but the user could only create ONE kind of weaponry, so the tool was materialized for the first time, and then the Uzumaki had to study on its use, before being capable of effectively using the bloodline. An example of this would be Uzumaki Kushina, capable of using chakra chains.

Naruto himself had the kogane no buki, and could create a set of claws that would stick to his hands and feet (think of the falcon talons of ninja gaiden two), this made study taijutsu styles that could be modified to allow their use in battle, in the end he ended up with a style that would mix kicks, punches, thrust and swipes, and tweaked the stances a bit, hence the clones working on both at the same time while he watched Konohamaru.

* * *

*Meanwhile*

Ebizu was not having a good day, he had lost his charge not only once, but twice in the same day, the first time he had attacked his grandfather and got himself hurt by the kyuubi container, he was no fool however, and the only reason he disliked the kid was because of his pranks, but he was sure that the brat had wanted to do more to the honorable grandson, and he, the élite jounin he was, wouldn't allow it. So when his charge disappeared for the second time in the same day, he knew he had to act, and as such, he tracked the kid and his pupil.

When he found them he saw his young pupil lying down with his feet to a tree, a frustrated expression on his face, and some ways away, he saw the jinchuriki looking amused, while six clones were sparring with another, with golden claws.

He was about to burst into the clearing when he saw Sandaime-sama's grandson start taking steps up the tree-trunk, he absently noted that the red-head's expression changed to impressed, right then he decided to walk into the training ground, rather than bursting into it.

When he entered the clearing, he spoke, "I admit, if you managed to get him to do the tree walking exercise, I may have underestimated you" Konohamuru lost concentration and slipped from the branch he was hanging, while Naruto only looked at him, an inquisitive expression present, "I have tried to get him to grasp the basics for some time now" Naruto nodded.

"Well, I suppose you want him back" Ebizu gave an affirmative sound "I'm leaving then, Kono" the boy looked at him "keep practicing until its second nature" he started walking away, "and don't doubt to look for me dattebayo" with that he stepped out of the clearing, leaving the jounin to ponder.

"Wait, onii-san" Konohamaru shouted "Thank you for helping me, But from now on, we are rival, and I WILL be better than you" Naruto smiled slightly, in the end, it had not been a bad day: he had impressed a jonin and gained a follower, hopefully the rest of the week would be as good.

* * *

**And end chapter, yes I gave Naruto a kekei genkai, but I had it planned, I intended to make him a swordsman, but that fit better with what I wanted, he will get strenght from expireince and work.**

**Next chapter are team placements, I hope you will like what I have planned for them.**

**One last thing, I am going to follow the anime, so if you have an arc you particulary like, tell me and I will see what I can do**

**Translations  
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**Mago no gaki=means 'grandson brat' but meant to be read as 'grand-brat'  
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**Chakura chūnyū=Chakra infusuion  
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**Iten o kōgeki=roughly 'attack transfer'  
**

**Kogane no buki=golden weapon  
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	4. Friends and comrades

**A/n this chapter is shorter that the others, mainly because I just could NOT come up with stuff to write, since in canon this is Naruto running around with diarreha  
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**For disclaimer refer to chapter one, pardon my english, it's not my birth language  
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**Friends and comrades**

*Naruto's Apartment* 8:30 am*

A week had passed since the day Mizuki had turned traitor, it was the talk of the village, most people knew the OFFICIAL story, that he had tried to steal the Sacred Scroll of Seals, and only four people knew the true story, one of them in prison.

During the week Naruto was constantly working to improve his seals, apart from trying to master his kogone no buki, right now, it took him a full minute to materialize his claws, and the only seals he could do effectively were only useful for training and storage, he only knew how to do the explosive tag because it was cheaper making them than buying.

Today would be his last peaceful day, the last day of his live as a civilian. Today he would be assigned to the people who would become his team, his nakama, he could only hope that they wouldn't be demon-haters.

The young jinchuriki woke up at 8:30, took a shower and gave The Ramen its morning sacrifice, before grabbing his goggles and hitai-ate, putting the former on his forehead and tying the latter on his neck, filled his shuriken and kunai holsters, before sealing the rest on the storage seals on his forearms and wrists, and proceeded to do his usual exercise routine, before heading out to the academy.

* * *

*Shinobi academy* 9:30 am*

The classroom was bustling with voices, kids twelve and thirteen were talking among themselves, excited about finally becoming gennin, trying to predict what the future would bring to them.

When young Naruto entered the class, the kids glanced at him, before returning to their conversations, but he paid them no mind, and took a seat near the only four kids he could call friends.

These four kids were the heirs to their clans, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji and Hyuuga Hinata, and none of them had been corrupted by the older generations, because their families understood who he was, and not WHAT he held.

Shino was a tall boy, with bushy brown hair, a tan jacket with a large collar that covered the lower part of his face and sunglasses over his eyes. He, like the rest of his clan, used kikaitchu bugs for tracking and his techniques, his friendship with Naruto had started when the red-tipped boy asked him about his bugs, and Shino was skeptical at first, but explained about his destruction bugs, and by the end of his explanation, he and Naruto were collecting all kinds of insects around the academy playground

Shikamaru was about his height; with a mesh shirt inter a tan vest with green linings, black hair put on a pineapple-like style, like the rest male Naras, Shikamaru was chronically lazy, often falling asleep as soon his head touched anything to help support it, but his highly analytical mind more than made up for his laziness, their relationship started when Naruto asked to play shoji, a strategy game, Shikamaru explained, and Naruto wanted to play, the Nara would later admit that his completely random moves had him thinking, and sometimes he lost to the boy's unpredictability.

Choji was a large boy with an average stature, his brown hair was only visible from the two spiky patches coming out from his bandana, on his cheeks he had spirals, and his shirt had the kanji for 'food'. He was constantly eating, but he also trained his muscles, needing the strength for his clan's expansion technique, he had met Naruto after being introduced by Shikamaru, he had been shy during the first meeting, since he was out of his comfort zone, but when Naruto defended him from some bullies, he opened up, by the time the fourth meeting came around, the two were on chip sharing terms.

Hyuuga Hinata had short, dark-blue hair, wore a baggy beige hoodie jacket with her clan's symbol. Hinata was a weird one, she was shy and would often retreat into her clothes, and while she hated hurting others, she wouldn't hesitate to injure if threatened. She had met Naruto when he saved her from some bullies that were humiliating her when they were six years old, since then she had a crush on the boy, and would often blush when around him, he had helped her with training and because of it he had modified the jyuken to be more flexible.

They talked their time away, with Naruto and Shikamaru having a quick game of shoji, and eating from the extra-large bag of potato chips Choji had brought.

It was about 10am when Iruka entered the class room, and while he expected the conversations, he did not welcome them, so he did his signature henge, the akuma no atama, "OKAY BRATS, SHUT UP AND PAY ATTENTION!" he withheld a smile when everyone turned to him, "Today you shall receive your team, and they will become something important to you over time" he looked at every kid in the eye and continued, "they will be your comrades until you make chunnin, they will have your back, and your sensei will help you become the best you can" he grabbed the name list from the desk, "your teams will be the following, team 1…" all the members from team one to six were civilian, so they were inconsequential. "Team seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura," a declaration of love ensued, "and Inuzka Kiba under Hatake Kakashi, Team 8 are Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino under Yuuhi Kurenai, and since team nine is still in circulation, Team 10 members are Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji and Yamanka Ino under Sarutobi Azuma. That is all, come back in one hour to meet your senseis" a man on his thirties entered the room.

The man had a lit cigar hanging from his lips, a bandana on his arm and the official jounin outfit, "Alright team ten, with me, we're getting to know each other over lunch" with that said he left the room, Shikamaru, Ino and Choji following.

Irika only sighed before dismissing the teams; his only thought was on how the other teachers had at least… A crash from the window followed by a poofing sound made him want to weep.

* * *

*Hour and a half later*

Yuuhi Kurenai was a beautiful woman and she knew it, her skin was without imperfections, her hair was as dark as a raven and made in messy waves, her eyes were a deep ruby-red and her figure was stunning, her dress consisted of a wrap like dress, with a red sleeve on her right side, she often called herself the _sexy older sister_ kind of woman, but on the field, she was severe, a leader through and through.

Right now she was sitting near a stream on a park, staring at her team, trying to gauge the skills of the two boys, since she had helped train the girl, and felt herself frown at the hyperactive behavior of the boy who looked as if he had dyed his hair, she had met only one person with that attribute, and it would be scary if the two ever met.

She smiled at the kids before her and started speaking "Hello, we'll start with introductions, and since I'm sure you know each other I'll start; my name is Yuuhi Kurenai, I like vodka, wine and salty tako, I dislike perverts and cake, my hobbies are spending time with my friends and creating genjutsu, and my dream is to have a family" she pointed to Hinata

"A-ano, I'm Hi-Hinata, I l-like c-cinnamon rolls and g-gardening, I d-dislike arrogance and f-fighting, my hobby is p-pressing f-flowers, and my dr-dream is to b-become a clan head" Kurenai nodded, she had expected that, but her confidence needed work, she pointed at Shino.

"My name is Aburame Shino, I like my friends and logic, I dislike arguments, arrogance and speaking more than necessary, my hobbies are finding new kinds of bugs, and my dream is to become a good leader for my clan." The red-eyed beauty nodded at Naruto, hopefully her assessment would be wrong.

"Name's Uzumaki Naruto dattebayo, I like The Ramen, The Log, my friends and the Ichiraku, I hate arrogance, opinions with no proof, and those who disrespect me, my hobbies are training and tasting and comparing different kinds of ramen and my dream is to become Hokage" and there went that hope.

She sighed before looking at her genin, "well, now that that's out-of-the-way, I have to explain something to you, tomorrow there will be another exam," she chuckled at the expression on Naruto's face, "you see, the test you did was to weed out hopeless cases, so tomorrow, meet me at training ground eight at noon, ja né" she left the stream and went to the village, intent on having a cup of wine.

* * *

**Read and Review, remember to vote on the poll on my profile, if you want a pairing then tell me on a reveiw or PM me.**

**Also, this chapter was written fast, so please, correct any mistakes, I just wanted to get this part out of the way  
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**Translations  
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**Akuma no atama= demon head  
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**Tako=octopus  
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	5. Genin exam

**I don't own Naruto, even if I wished I did  
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**Just hang in there, apart from this one there will be another two chapters before the story gets moving.  
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**Also, the poll will be in my profile 'till wednesday, so please vote, as well as review.  
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**Team 8's genin exam**

* * *

*Training ground 8*11 Am*

Naruto, Hinata and Shino were sitting on the shade of a tree, discussing their upcoming exam, "s-so, w-what do y-you think she'll have us d-do?" the shy girl asked the boys on her sides.

"Logic states that it will be a tracking exercise" the ever stoic boy answered, and Naruto found himself nodding

"Yep, with your eyes, Shino's kikaichku and my shadow clones we make a good tracking team" he paused a bit, "that or assassination and clearing" he was of course talking of bandit camps that were scattered all across the elemental nations.

"Quite right you are Naruto" Kurenai's voice reached them, "this unit was put together with tracking in mind, and to pass this test you will have to find _this_" from her sleeve she took out a brown box, it was really small, barely bigger than her fist, and looked really fragile. "You have to find it before lunch time, or you will fail, any questions?" at their negative, she nodded and told them, "A soon as the alarm sounds your test starts." And with that she disappeared.

Ten minute later, the bell rang, "We should prepare a plan of action" Shino stated, in his monotonous voice, Naruto grinned, that was his forte, what with his pranks he was as good a planner as Shikamaru.

"Right then, here's the plan, Hinata" the girl looked up "You are going in the middle of the group; use your byakugan to watch out for traps, especially genjutsu if what I found out is true." He looked at Shino, "Your condition is going to be useful now, Shino."

Shino was not normal, even by Aburame standards, he didn't use sunglasses to protect his eyes like the rest of his clan, but to hide the fact he was blind, because of that his destruction bugs relied every kind of information to him, to compensate for his lack of sight.

"You will go at the back of the group" The red-tipped boy continued "Use your beetles to scout ahead, zero on everything that may be the box, chakra, grass, dirt, anything that may give it away, I will send clones along, but right now let's stay here, wait for the info to come, but stay on guard"

From where she was watching Kurenai had to admire the blond-rooted boy's capacity to think, perhaps those pranks DID serve a purpose after all.

It took a while for the clones and bugs to find any leads, but eventually they did "Naruto, I got ten places with chakra and five with traps" The orange-fringed boy nodded and asked if he marked them "I did, the kikaichkus are already working on the genjutsus"

"I got six traps and five hiding places, but they could have been caught on illusions, so we will start with the ones that have traps" he started moving, "Shino, you guide, hopefully I will be able to battle-test some of the wind jutsus I know"

Kurenai's ruby eyes widened, if the kid knew nature manipulation his reports by academy instructors were incredibly wrong, how could they NOT write that?

The group moved to the southwest, being mindful of what could be there, Hinata had her byakugan activated, looking around for anything that may seem out of place, Shino was concentrating on all the images transmitted by the link he had with his familiars, Naruto himself was trying something Iruka-nii had taught him during the week, the same thing the man used to catch him after his pranks, the Chakurarēdā, a pulse of chakra sent around himself through the ground to sense any signature in the area, he believed it had been created by the yondaime, but he could not be sure.

It took them almost an hour and a half to check all the locations, and even then, must were duds and the ones that weren't were filled with flash tags.

In the end they returned to the center of the training ground, Naruto and Hinata pissed at nearly being blinded, and even if he couldn't see it, Naruto could swear Shino was almost amused.

When they got to the clearing at the center, they saw Kurenai in a battle ready stance, the box dangling from her neck, a smirk crossed her face, they had already passed, but they didn't know that.

"I'll admit, you were faster than expected" her smirk grew "but you haven't got this yet"

Naruto charged as soon as she finished talking, intent on taking the chain across her neck. Hinata followed, reluctant but resolved to help out. Shino stayed back, sending a hive out of his body, helping them deal with any illusions.

Naruto thrust a punch at the woman's chest, but she parried and quickly sent a palm to his face, knocking him of balance, and turned to block a palm from Hinata, she noticed that they had insects on their clothes and cursed, her art was out the window, there was no way she could get past chakra eating bugs.

Naruto pushed himself off the ground, aiming a kick at Kuernai's stomach, she sidestepped and he fell onto Hinata, the two of them rolling on the ground, before standing up fast, "I expected better from you, Naruto-kun, you _were_ the best on taijutsu in the academy" That only served to rile him up, and while he was still relatively calm, it was only a matter of time till he became sloppy.

He concentrated on bringing his kogane no buki, if anything it would help with his reach. He made a clone, and had it attack with him, the real one only half concentrated on the battle, Hinata hadn't yet gotten up, having fainted from Naruto falling on her, so he had to mind where he stepped.

He and his clone continued to attack, mixing swipes and punches and kicks in an attempt to catch the genjutsu mistress, but she only dodged, the smirk still in place.

Kurenai however was having trouble, Shino's bugs and Naruto's constant attacks were starting to take a toll on her, and it was only a matter of time before she fell, she would have to wait the remaining twenty minutes for the second alarm to ring.

A cry of 'yatta' and a flash made her snap her eyes at Naruto, the boy had somehow equipped claws, and judging by how he looked, he knew how to use them.

Said boy calmed down and smirked, the falcon talons would help, "Time to kick it up a notch, 'ttebayo" and he kicked off, using his weapons to slash at Kurenai.

The messy-haired woman cursed again and dodged, he was getting closer, and his attacks were harder to dodge, it was only a matter of time for him to get the box. She saw a stab to her head, and made a decision; she sidestepped the attack and hit the boy on his arm, before kicking his legs from under him.

He jumped and snapped a kick at his opponent, but she docked and punched him in the seal on his stomach, throwing him away, and leaving him breathless.

Shino looked at his teammates, without them he had little chance, but he would have to try, He was about to launch a second hive and mix with it when the clock struck lunch time, signaling the end of the exam.

Naruto groaned from where he was, disappointment and discomfort clear on his face, the healing factor he got from Kurama helped in situations like this, but it was still painful having the air driven from his lungs.

He got up and picked Hinata up from where she was in the ground, then he made his way to Shino, head down, but Kurenai's voice stopped him "And where do you think you're going Naruto?" he looked at her, confused, "You may not have gotten the box, but that doesn't mean you didn't pass" his face and Shino's raised eyebrow mad her chuckle "While this was a tracking exercise, the point wasn't that" she nodded at the girl in Naruto's arms "wake Hinata up an I'll explain"

He shook the blue-haired girl, and heard a mumble about 'multi-colored foxes', before she snuggled closer to his chest, making him shake harder, and she groggily opened her eyes, only blush and almost faint again after seeing how close she was to Naruto.

He gently put her down, her face glowing a bright red, and looked at the woman that started speaking again "you see, Konoha, above all else, values teamwork. Most jounin sensei's test will somehow involve teamwork, one of the most used is the bell test, but some will use a diferent one, I, for example, used the test to see if you could form a strategy that included the three of you, instead of going everyone by yourselves, without any help, in which case I would put you in a binding genjutsu until lunch."

The three nodded, though Naruto was curious, "So because I took them two" he pointed at his sides, his arms crossed "into account when I made the plan we…" The bandage-covered woman nodded.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, you, Shino-kun and Hinata-chan are officially gennin." Naruto cheered, throwing his arms around his new teammates, making Hinata blush, but even then, she smiled, and if one were to look up the bug-user's collar, they would have noticed a small smile.

* * *

*Three week later*half past noon*

Naruto was trying to get the hang of one of the exercises his sensei had given them, the weapon balancing, the concept was fairly simple, by using your chakra, you make any kind of cutting weapon stay balanced in the palms of your hand, but any slip on your concentration and the weapon would fall, piercing your hand.

Hinata was the first to get it, because of her clan techniques, which required chakra control as perfect as it could get, then Shino got it two hours late, and now, Naruto was still attempting to do it, and they had started five hours ago, the only redeeming quality of the day was that Kurenai-sensei had allowed him to use his shadow clones to help, and that it would make the process of calling the falcon talons forth faster.

His training with team eight had consisted of chakra control, teamwork exercises and individual training, and in the afternoons they did mission, if you could call d-ranks that, and after that it was free time, which Naruto used to train further with his kekei genkai and his fuinjutsu, along with the bits of training Kurama gave him, which hadn't been much, only the most basic form of fox fire. He could now summon his kogane no buki in forty-five seconds, instead of a full minute, and his mother was starting him on barrier-seals, he would prefer battle-seals, but that would have to wait, since those were the 'dark arts' of seals, almost nobody specialized on them, and those that did barely shared anything.

Today was one of the few days that they didn't go on a mission, because sensei was introducing them to one of her friends.

"So, whose the brat you want me to help?" there they were, walking alongside Kurenai was a purple-haired woman, clad in a standard ANBU armor, a sword and a cat mask at her waist, suggesting she was a swords master, Naruto thought she looked somehow familiar.

"The one sitting with the kunai sticking out of his hand" Indeed, due to his lack of concentration he had let the kunai drop; he idly noted the sting that the injury produced.

Finally the dots connected to the young boy, he knew that woman, "Neko-nee-chan" He quickly stood up and went to hug her, his arms crushing her stomach and his head snuggled to her chest.

Kurenai hid her smile as she looked at the two, as amused as her other two students. 'Neko' pinched the bridge of her nose, while she was happy to see the kid, he was still too loud for her, that and, "I told you when you were younger that if you ever saw me off duty, you were to call me Yuugao"

The boy only looked at her and blinked, all the while holding an innocent expression on his face, "ok Yuugao-nee" and he snuggled again.

Yuugao looked at the boy latched onto her, "Naruto, get off, Kurenai-chan asked me to help you train with your weapon, so you have to show me good you are"

"Subarashī, nee-chan's going to train me dattebayo" he started dancing around, happy that he would be seeing his 'nee-chan' as much as he did when he was six.

She sighed in exasperation, "Naruto, calm down and show me" eh boy chuckle sheepishly, and concentrated on his bloodline, while he did this, Yuugao created a reinforced shadow clone, to have it test the excitable kid.

When she saw the golden tools appearing she looked at Kurenai and asked "those look like the ones…" Kurenai interrupted her.

"He IS her son, it's only right that he would inherit something other than her personality" Yuugao smiled and nodded.

The two looked at Naruto, just in time to see the fight start.

* * *

**Cut, sorry for the cliffhanger, but if I didn't end it there it would have kept going until the four thousand words, and that would have taken more time.**

**One las thing, I may be slow with the next update, the education sistem decided to issue taxing monthly projects.(I HaTE SCHOOL)  
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**Chakurarēdā=Chakra radar  
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**Subarashi=Awesome  
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	6. Yuugao's test and a Crank

**I don't own Naruto, and I know I said I wouldn't update so soon, but, ha! in your face educational sistem  
**

**Yuugao's evaluation and the first c-rank**

* * *

*Training ground eight*noon*

"Aright Naruto, I'm going to see how good you are with those," Yuugao pointed at the golden claws attached to Naruto's limbs, "and then I'll come up with ways to help you train"

"If you're testing me," he frowned, "then why are you a clone? Wouldn't you dispel if I hit you?" He knew the shadow clones were weak, and it couldn't be a blood clone, those took as much time as a mizu bunshin to create, he should know, the he had a shadow clone create a water one while he himself created a blood clone, that had left him exhausted, he had stayed in his mindscape for a whole day (he hadn't tried to make another chisio bunshin since that incident).

Yuugao sighed; the boy had had three weeks and hadn't thought of reinforced clones, "no Naruto, when you put extra chakra in a single clone, (without molding it to be an explosive one) it will take more hits to dispel, I am a reinforced clone" the boy nodded in understanding; that would help in battles.

"So I attack as if you were the original Yuugao-nee?" the woman nodded and lowered herself to a ready stance, knees bent, right foot forward, left pointing outwards and her body sideways, with her sword held diagonally in front of her.

Naruto did the same, his stance was pretty low, almost crouching, with his hands held one in front and the other across his stomach, his feet were digging onto the ground for faster movements.

"Alright, let's start dattebayo" They stood there, waiting for the other to make the first move, but while the orange-fringed boy may have been slightly more patient thanks to meditation, he could not wait to start, so kicking off the ground, he rushed at the purple-haired woman, attempting a diagonal slash at her chest, but it was blocked by her sword.

He tried to kick her, but she moved, the suddenness of it throwing him off balance, and she took advantage from it, making a stabbing move at his centrum. He moved back, but the attack still nicked him, a drop of blood flowing from the small wound.

The cat-ANBU spun around, slashing at her opponent, trying to cut him from shoulder to shoulder, but her attack was blocked.

She narrowed her eyes and jumped over a low kick from Naruto, dropping her sword into the head of the boy, who moved his head just in time to avoid being cut, but still losing some hairs.

The boy kicked high, wanting to impale his talons on the clone's neck, but the attack was parried, which left him open for a slash at his ribs, blood quickly rushing down from the wound, a grimace gracing his face.

He tried a double slash with his hands, but that too, was blocked. He grunted at the pressure the woman was putting on his arms, some sparks jumping from the clashing weapons.

The ANBU captain kicked at his stomach, making him cross his arms in front of him, which was what the woman wanted. She started another slash, this time starting at the hip, it was dodged, but she kept attacking, her barrage leaving Naruto with the only option being to dodge.

Finally the blonde managed to parry a stab from Yuugao, taking advantage of the fact that the sword-expert was left open. He went for a cut to her hip, only managing to cut the clothing, but he kept at it, throwing a vertical slash to her left side, but it was side-stepped.

"That is the best you can do? Naru-chan" the purplette teased, making the blond more frustrated, "I've cut you three times now, and you have only nicked me once" And it was true he had been on the defensive for most of the mock-battle.

The realization hit the blond hard, angering him and making him call on an unnoticeable amount of kyuubi's chakra, only enough to make him slightly faster and change his eyes.

He jumped, aiming for a stab at the clone, which barely blocked, having expected a slower, and weaker, charge. The clone looked at the boy's face and gasped at the blue-turned-red eyes.

The red-tipped boy did a roundhouse kick, the talons nicking the clone on the waist, and used the momentum for a straight kick.

The woman jumped back, before rushing at the angry boy, the sword-tip on the ground, before bringing it up to a cut in the chest of the kid, making blood jump from the wound.

Naruto collapsed to his knees, before falling to the ground, the _falcon talons_ disappearing as soon as he hit the ground.

Hinata as at his side in seconds, turning him over, and started applying her healing salve, sealing the wounds even faster than they normally would.

The clone dispelled, sending the encounter to the original, who held her head when the memory hit her, "well, I got what I needed from him, I'll start planning his training tomorrow"

Kurenai frowned at her friend, "did you have to be so rough on him, the last slash could have maimed him" she was worried for the kid, she didn't exactly how far his healing went, and she didn't really want to find out.

"It was necessary," the purple-haired woman started, aware of the look the raven-haired sensei was giving her, "he was starting to channel the beast's chakra, had I NOT knocked him out, he would have gone berserk"

Kurenai's ruby-colored eyes widened, her student had called on THAT power, Yuugao's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "I don't think it was a conscious thing, remember how my clone taunted him" she nodded, "my best guess is that his annoyance at being called 'Naru-chan', coupled with his frustration at constantly being on the defensive and only cutting the clone once, made him subconsciously call on it"

The messy-haired woman sighed, "Guess I'll have to put more time into meditation" She looked at her long-time friend "How do you plan on training him?"

"I'm going to take him three times a week; during the time you are teaching them hand-to-hand combat" Yuugao closed her eyes, "he is skilled for his age, hell, I doubt ANYONE his age can use those things" she opened her eyes and gazed at the fallen boy, "does he know his elements?" she asked

"Yes" Kurenai answered, "wind and water, he knows a few jutsus too" she looked at her team, Shino had moved and was now helping Hinata to move the unconscious boy to the shade of a tree "I'm going to test their affinity soon, see if they have one"

Yuugao nodded, and the two went to the kids.

*Thirty minutes later*

* * *

Naruto woke up uncomfortable, feeling a bit stiff from where his nee-chan had cut him.

'_So, socchi, what did you learn today?'_ Kushina's voice made him groan, the memory of his spar with Yuugao still fresh.

'_To never fight someone better if I can help it'_ it had tired him too, Yuugao-nee was obviously better than Kurenai-sensei. She was more aggressive too.

'_**And that you should never piss off a woman that can wield a weapon'**_ Kurama said sagely, nodding at his own words inside the seal.

'_To always stay calm in battle would be a better advice 'ttebayo'_ he opened his eyes and sat up, wincing slightly as a wave of pain hit him.

He looked around, noticing four blurry figures. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, finally able to distinguish his team, Yuugao-nee and Kurenai-sensei, "mou, Onee-chan is mean" he pouted, his eyes watering. Just as Yuugao was about to speak, he continued, every trace of the pout gone, "so, nee-chan, when do you start my training? Am I going to learn to use the sword too?"

Yuugao sighed again; the blonde-rooted boy hadn't lost his energy, "Like I told Kurenai, you will be training with me three times a week, during the time you are practicing taijutsu" she looked at his new apprentice, "although, if, and only IF, you manage to master those claws of yours, I'll teach you swordsmanship"

"YATTA, I'm going to be so awesome 'ttebayo" A punch to the top of his head made him face-plant

"BAKA, mastering a weapon can take years, I'm surprised you got as good as you are with the one you use as young as you are" The purple-haired woman helped him stand up again, "finish what you were doing before I came, and Naruto, we start tomorrow" with that she shunshined out of the training ground

* * *

*The next day*10 Am*

An excited Naruto was standing before an exasperated Yuugao, he was practically vibrating with excitement, "Naruto, calm down" she told him "we won't start anything until after you condition your body," the boy pouted, "your claws, talon, or whatever you call them, rely on speed and maneuverability, so unless you are fast an agile, they are little else than knives" she chuckled at his looks, probably outrage at his bloodline being compared to normal weapons, "what I want you to do, is to run as fast as you can, around the training ground until you can't run anymore, almost like the time you broke into the ANBU compound for a prank"

And so he did, with a groan he went, running into the tree-line and to circle the fence surrounding their training ground.

It would be almost an hour when he collapsed in front of an amused Yuugao, who had a smile at seeing the normally-hyper-boy panting on the ground "you have ten minutes to rest, then we start another exercise" the boy could only groan.

The next exercise was fairly simple; dodge all the balls thrown at him, easy right? Not quite, Yuugao was ruthless, throwing them at speeds he could barely follow, and mixing the height as low as his sheens and as high as his forehead, almost never aiming at the same spot.

Needless to say, by the end of the day, he was sore, with bruises all over his body, and left with a sense of disappointment at not having learned anything.

* * *

*Four weeks later*2Pm*

Team eight was standing in front of the Hokage, giving a report of a successful mission. Or at least, Kurenai was, Naruto was staring at the end of the universe, Hinata was poking her fingers together, stealing glances at Naruto and Shino, the later remaining as still and silent as ever

"Very well Kurenai-chan, I'll give your team a c-rank" the heads of the trio immediately snapped to the aged leader, he was giving them a higher mission, "A few days ago a farmer came asking for help at setting up his farm" Naruto groaned, more chores, oh well, at least he would be getting out of the village for a while, "you must set the fence where he tells you, and then help him escort the animals needed to his farm" the aged leader looked at the team across the desk, and he mentally chuckled at look Naruto was giving him

"Alright you three, I want you to pack for at least a week, two at the most" Kurenai told her pupils, "meet me in two hours at the western," she looked at the Hokage for confirmation, at his nod she continued, "at the western gate, don't be late" after her dismissal, the three members of team eight went their ways, each of them thinking of their upcoming mission.

* * *

*West gate*4Pm*

Kurenai arrived a few minutes after the rest of her squad, to find them checking their equipment; Hinata almost hiding in her backpack, Shino with his hand inside his own pack, and Naruto sealing and unsealing things from a scroll. "Alright you three, you have everything you need?" at their nods she smiled, "good then let's get going, hopefully we can make it before sunset"

'_Susamajī, I'm going out of Konoha_' thought the hyperactive boy.

'_Calm down socchi, remember what I've told you, the outside world is very different from the interior of the village walls'_ his kaa-chan told him, as she had many times before, every time he went to hunt.

'_I know kaa-chan, but I can't help but feel excited, it's the first time I've went out for something other than hunting' _and it was true, he rarely ever left the walls, only to train, which left him still relatively close to the walls, and to hunt, for which he only went a mile of the village.

'_**Listen to Kushina, she may be a worry-wart, but she means well**_' shortly after saying that, Kurama was hit over the head by an angry mother

'_WHO ARE YOU CALLING WORRY-WART 'TTEBANE?_' Kushina never tolerated teasing, not even from her late husband, so everyone who messed with her did it at their own risk

'_Kaa-chan, if you're going to hit Kurama then wait 'till the link is cut' _Naruto grumbled '_you're going to give me a headache_'

He got no response, meaning she had cut the mind-link in order to beat the kitsune to a pulp, he pitied the poor guy.

His sensei's voice brought him out of his conversation, "Good we're here" that's what he hated of the link, it made time seem faster that it really was, "let's go to the house, and tell them we've arrived."

The house was pretty big, with a height of three stories, and if he was right, at least four rooms per floor, it had a barn attached to the back, probably so they could access the animals more easily when they were brought in.

His teacher knocked the door, and after a few moments it was opened by a man in his late thirties, "I suppose you are the team they sent" at Kurenai's nod he smiled "good, good, please come in, I've been waiting for you, didn't expect kids quite as young though" he glanced at the three teens

"Almost no-one does, mister..?"

"Hokaido, Hokaido Nōmin" he quickly told her

"Yuuhi Kurenai, the boy with multi-colored hair is Uzumaki Naruto, the one with the high collar is Aburame Shino and the blue-haired one is Hyuuga Hinata" she motioned to her team, each of the nodding when their name was said "Now, could you please give us a better description of what you want us to do, Hokaido-san?"

"Yes, of course, Yuuhi-san" the man invited them to sit down, they did, "From some time I've been saving in order to start this farm, but no matter where I went I couldn't find someone willing to make the fence, even if I already have the materials ready, so I asked your Kage for help, especially since the cows and sheep I ordered will get here by next week, so I just could not wait for someone to help"

"So you want us to do what others didn't want to" Kurenai interrupted "don't worry, we'll have the fence ready in time to escort the animals, you don't have to worry"

"Thank you, Kurenai-san" Hokaido told them, "now I believe it's time for dinner, please, join us" Team eight didn't want to intrude, seeing as they had their own provisions, but they didn't want to seem rude either, so they followed Nōmin to the dinning room

* * *

**Woo, and chapter done, as I said in the begining, screw proyects, I hate them  
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**Now rant time: pairings for the fic  
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**Out of ALL TEN reviews, half ask of me to make the pairing Naru/Kushi; now, I don't have anything agaist the paring, as soon as the next update is posted I WILL favorite 'chronicles of my shinobi way', 'The whirling tides' and 'contract oth the shinigami', all of them featuring Naruto in an inscest relationship, but I feel that for this fic it is impossible becuase he met Kushina at age four, yes a bit late, but still early enough to develop the 'mother-son' feelings.  
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**Another thing, the latest reviewer asked if it would have yaoi, and I am pleased to tell you that unless it is made that way by the owner of the story I'm making a fic of, I will never, EVER write it.  
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**One last thing before I shut up, After I close the poll currently in my profile I will put another with the women I can make a relationship work, if the one you want is NOT there, tell me her name and the arc or movie she is from, I will watch said arc or movie and see if I can make it work.  
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**That's all for now, ja né  
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	7. Setting up the farm

**I don't own Naruto, but I'm comming up with a plan to rip it from Kishimoto  
**

**The farm**

* * *

*Dining room of Nōmin's farmhouse*

Nōmin led them away from the living room and to a large room that was rather spacious, not only that, but it was also heavily decorated, with pictures, portraits and sculptures everywhere "nins, please meet my wife, Utsukushī" he motioned to a woman that obviously kept herself in good condition, with a kind face, light brown hair and hazel eyes, "and my son, Gankona" He pointed to a kid, probably seven, who was staring at them with an inquisitive face, obviously wondering who they were.

"Pleased to meet you, Utsukushī-san, Gankona-san, I hope we aren't intruding" Kurenai told the woman.

"Oh no, not at all" the woman replied, she was obviously accustomed to having guests, "please do sit down, I was about to serve dinner"

The dish she served was a simple mushroom soup, that did not make it any less appreciated by the Konoha nin, "Hey, why do you have so many tattoos?" Gankona asked Naruto, who motioned to wait a bit, since he was chewing a particularly difficult shroom.

"Well," he swallowed and started talking, "the ones on my hands and arms are storage seals, so I don't have to carry so much stuff all the time" he pointed at his chest and then at his wrists, "this ones are weight, so I'm always training my strength, and this two," he showed the ones on his palms, "are so I can launch needles better"

"Sugoi" Gankona breathed, "and what of the one you have on your stomach, it looks funny" he was talking of his jinchuriki seal, that was a spiral with four wiggly lines coming from it.

"Ah well," he scratched the back of his head, "that one's a bit special," he sighed, "it marks me as a sacrifice for the betterment of the village" the farmers gasped, the kid was to be sacrificed? "It means that I was chosen as the…" he hesitated, "cage, yes cage, of a very dark power, and I have to keep it inside of me, so it doesn't injure anybody"

"So you are basically like one of the shrines of Oni no Kuni?" Nōmin asked him, "you hold something back?" he was curious, he had heard of demon containers, but he had never heard of a living one.

"Yeah, you could say that" '_Though I wish Kaa-chan wasn't trapped' _the last part was left unspoken.

'_Me too socchi, but we have to wait for a way to get us out without killing you_' Kurama nodded in agreement, even though he didn't see it, he could feel it.

"Odorokubeki, you're like a hero or something!" Naruto smiled both wistfully and in amusement, If only the villagers could see it like that.

The rest of the night was spent talking, Kurenai about the mission and Naruto with the younger boy about whatever came to mind.

* * *

*The next day*

"Alright team, Hokaido-san told us to make the fence a mile out in every direction," The members of team eight were holding a shovel, a mace, and a stack of wooden poles each, "Today you are going to start digging the holes and starting the North side of the fence, you'll have two breaks, one at lunch time and another two hours before dinner," the three genin nodded, "I'll be using shadow clones to keep an eye on you, so no slacking off"

The young genin left in the same general direction, but during the way they decided that they should start each on a different part; Shino would start from the east to the center, where he would meet with Naruto, who would do the western and eastern center, while Hinata would do the east part of the section, and so, the teen separated.

* * *

*Naruto's part*

The blond-rooted boy was currently in trying to move a rock that he had found on where he started to dig, it wouldn't be so bad, had the rock not been so big and heavy; so he, along with a pair of clones, were digging out the rock, so they would just have to roll it out of the hole.

"Hey, boss, how the hell did this get here" Clone #1 asked

"How should I know, for all I care we could just blow to kingdom come" Naruto replied.

"Then why don't we?" clone #2 whined

"Because, boss forgot to bring the ink for seal-drawing" clone #3 was a flux on the technique, a clone that had developed a different personality.

"And he can't use blood because?" #1 formed a hand-seal, "… you know what? Forget it, I'm just blowing the damn thing up with me" and he exploded, popping the other two clones, causing a cave in, and launching the original to the skies.

He would awaken from his landing thirty minutes later, and start making kage bunshin to dig and impale the poles, while he himself nailed planks to connect them.

* * *

*Hinata's part*

The blunette, being a member of the Hyuuga clan, used her byakugan to see where the best places to put the poles were, and started doing her part of the job, occasionally wiping a thread of sweat when they appeared.

* * *

*Shino's part*

The stoic boy could be seen with the shovel in his hands, adjusting it many times, before he would dig the hole and plant the stake, repeating the proses until he deemed enough and connected them with planks

* * *

*Kurenai*

She had to say, she was proud of her students, sure, they weren't the most normal of the bunch, a shy heiress, a quiet blind boy, and a hyperactive jinchuriki.

They were kids, innocent to the ways of the world, the only one that was not so naïve was probably Naruto; the poor boy had been alone most of his life, abused both orally and emotionally, hopefully he would stay just as he was right now, and not snap and kill them all.

She could only wonder what would have happened had his mother lived; would he be different? Would he take even more after her? Would he even be a ninja?

She did not let those thought get to her, for all intents and purposes she was their family now, she would help them become the very best they could be.

* * *

*Six days later*

It had taken team eight the best part of the week, but they had done it, they had finished setting up the perimeter of the farm, and now they would go escort the caravan of animals that would inhabit the barn.

"We probably won't encounter anything more than a couple of bandits at the most," Kurenai told her team as they were setting of from the town, Nōmin was at the front of the caravan, carrying his son on his shoulder, the boy looking around in wonder, "Still, keep your guard up, you know the formation?" she asked her team, who nodded, "right, then get to your positions.

The formation had Hinata walking at the back of the convoy, Naruto and Shino at the sides and Kurenai-sensei at the front with Nōmin. Naruto would create six clones and had them walk around the animals, keeping an eye on the spots Hinata couldn't reach with her eyes, and generally messing with the cows.

They hadn't really seen anything that gave them any real trouble; a wolf seeking food over here, a cow or sheep wandering off, and the occasional bear that crossed their path. All in all, it seemed rather like a vacation more than anything

* * *

*That evening*

"Thank you for helping us setting up," Nōmin was telling them when they reached the farm, "I don't think I would the fence would be finished had you not come"

"No worries Hokaido-san, it is our job to help, after all" The genjutsu mistress replied.

"Still, thank you for doing…" he was interrupted by the cry of a hawk over-head, before said hawk landed on the arm of the sensei of team eight.

She took the scroll attached to the creature's leg, before sending it back to where it came from.

Her eyebrows marred into a frown when she read the message, before her eyes widened, "Sorry Hokaido-san, we will have to leave earlier than expected," she called for her team, and when they arrived she set off, the kids hesitating before catching up, "Hokage-sama assigned us to a flash mission," without glancing back she started to explain, "a flash mission is one that has to be taken care of right after it is requested, normally, the only to be considered for that are the a-ranks and s-ranks, but occasionally, a lower ranking mission is made 'flash'," she glanced back at her students, her expression grim, "We have been assigned to take care of a group of bandits that recently attacked an unprotected village, they razed it to the ground and kidnaped what few survivors there were, this is what the team was meant to be for, a cleaning mission," she looked forward again, praying to whatever deity there was that her children wouldn't change much from the experience.

* * *

**Okay, sorry for the short chapter, but I promise you the next one will have action, because the main plot starts, you have until the end of the day to vote on the poll on my profile, Naruto's 'sibling' will make the first apearance nex chapter.**

**Also, team eight wil get their first kill, I didn't like the fact that there were no deaths until so late into the anime, let's see if you can guess their reactions? review if you want in, winner gets virtual cookies, or brownies, whatever you want.  
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**Last thing, flash missions are actually my invention, at leas, I think they are, I don't really know if there ARE missions under 'A' and 'S' that are assigned shortly after the request  
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**Translation  
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**Odorokubeki=incredible  
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	8. The camp

**Enjoy the chapter, as I said on the last chapter, Enter Naruto's 'sibling.'  
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**Also, battle scenes, tell me what you think.  
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**I do not own Naruto, but I do my oc's**

* * *

**The bandit camp.**

* * *

*Forest of Hi no Kuni*

Team eight was immersed each in their own thoughts, thinking about the upcoming task; eliminating a camp full of bandits, meaning they would have to kill. They had expected it, but they didn't think it would be so soon.

'I have to trust them, besides, if they breakdown I'll be there to help' Despite repeating this to herself, Kurenai could not help but think that it would scar them more than what was necessary.

'Logic told me I would have to do it eventually; I would prefer to do it with Tou-san and Kaa-san nearby though' in truth, the young Aburame was scared; what if he liked it? What if he couldn't cope with it? He wouldn't like to cause grieve to his family and friends, but what would happen to him after this?

'I don't want to kill, I don't like hurting people' the young Hyuuga was probably fairing the worst out of the four, her gentle disposition was both her greatest advantage and her weakest point; she was everything a Hyuuga was NOT supposed to be. The problem came from the fact that, while not physically, she had been abused emotionally, which led to a very meek personality, maybe she wouldn't be like that had her clan believed in her. Right now, the poor girl was an emotional wreck, and would probably faint at the simplest of surprises.

'_I'll have to kill, I knew it was coming, but damn_' Naruto had been prepared, his mother had given him the task of raising a rabbit and killing it after it was mature enough, to help drive the shock of killing out of the red-tipped boy.

'_Socchi, just remember, you have me, you have Kurama, and you have your team, we'll all help you go through it_' Kushina was worried for her son; She knew his will was strong, as strong as hers and his father's, but killing was known to bring down even the strongest of minds, despite their attempts at making it easier to bear.

'_**Kit, the only thing you need to remember is to stay calm, otherwise my chakra may leak. Other than that, the only advice I can give, is just do it**_' Kurama never was like most demons; he was childish, he was immature and he didn't like bloodlust. Some might say that he was born a human and corrupted by the power given to him, and in a way it was true; when he first got his power, he started every fight he could, but though the centuries of his existence, he had watched as humans killed each other, and slowly came to hate the act of ever wasting blood, granted he had done it a few times before being sealed, but he never killed innocents if he could help it.

The kid knew that as ninjas they would have to kill, especially considering how their team was made; opinions didn't matter as long as the mission was complete and your comrades safe.

Kurenai stopped, making her charges do the same, she pointed at the camp, some tents scattered about and a wooden palisade surrounding them, and asked "Hinata, what do you see?"

The girl activated her eyes, veins bulging, and concentrated on the tents bellow, "th-there are around sixty signatures moving, o-only two of them get past academy level, one a ch-chunin, the other genin"

"Do you see where the captured people are?"

"H-hai, on the shack outside the hurdle" she pointed to a place on the side northern end, "th-that's where the g-genin signature is, the chunin one is on the west end

The red-eyed woman considered her words, she could take care of the chunin-level one easily, while the rest of her team took care of the camp, "Shino, you will enter on the south, and start moving toward the center, Hinata, the same with you and the east, Narutom you enter through the shack, eliminate the bandit there, leave a clone with the prisioners and then move inwards, I'll take the west" she sighed, "here, take this, the com-pieces we use when catching tora" she handed them a head set, which they out on, "if anything happens, tell me. One advise, just don't think about it until we are alone" closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they weren't looking at their sensei, they were looking at an experienced team leader, "move out" she said, and disappeared, the others soon going their ways.

* * *

*Western sector of the camp*

Kurenai arrived in a shunshin, behind a group of drunken bandits, stumbling their way through others, sometimes tripping.

She used a genjutsu to immobilize them, before swiftly killing them with accurate shuriken throws, thuds signifying their fall to the ground, blood rushing from their wounds.

Just as she was about to go off and search, her instincts screamed and she jumped, just in time to miss being impaled by a sword. "well, well, well, it seems that you managed to dodge 'Satsugai-sha', I had hoped you wouldn't," next to the sword there was a man in his twenties, a cocky smirk in place, eyes ogling at Kurenai's figure, "I don't suppose you could come with me, We would have a great time" the man was 6'4", with brown hair, hazel eyes and a figure of someone who practiced every once in a while.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes at the man "Buringā Koroshi" she muttered, a b-rank missing-nin from takigakure, a bit troubling, considering she didn't have a weapon but her kunai and shuriken, while he had a sword, his reach was bigger, and he probably knew how to dispel illusions, still, "magen: Jigoku no shichō", forming hand-seals, she put him under one of her easiest genjutsus, and rushed at him, kunai at the ready

Koroshi, brought his hands up, and dispelled the technique, but Kurenai was already upon him, slashing with her weapon of choice, he blocked and kicked her feet, but she performed a jump and kicked at his side, hearing the satisfying crunch of a broken rib.

The missing-nin grunted and pushed her away, before preparing his own jutsu, "doton: doro no kawa" he announced before spiting a large stream of mud at the genjutsu mistress, forcing her to dodge. He ended the technique and charged, sword at his side.

Kurenai blocked his slash, and put him in a false surrounding illusion when he looked at her in the eyes.

Koroshi saw the woman he was fighting disappear, and whirled around, expecting an attack. When it didn't come he narrowed his eyes, before raising his hands to the '_ram seal_'. Before he could however, a pain in his right hand caused him to drop his sword, and his perception to become normal again,

Kurenai had moved from where she was standing as soon as her shūi no nise took effect, disengaging from the stalemate, and slashed the dominant hand of her opponent, making him drop the sword; this however, had the side effect of raising him from the illusion.

She ducked under an enraged punch, followed by rolling to the side of a falling kick, and lashed out to the closest target, that just so happened to be the back of his knee, making him fall to the ground.

Just as she was about to pierce his chest in order to kill him, Koroshi made a few hand-signs and whispered, "katon: Jiko bakuhatsu" before he exploded in a ball of flames, intent of taking the bitch who defeated him with him. Kurenai barely had the time to do a substitution.

* * *

*Eastern side of the compound*

Hinata was quietly sneaking around, slashing the throats of the bandits that were unaware; tears were running down her face, the weight of what she was doing fully registering on her mind.

Occasionally someone would see her, before being silenced by a jyuuken strike to the heart, effectively killing them by a heart attack.

But about halfway to the center a guard saw her, and she couldn't reach him before he shouted the alarm. Seconds later an explosion was seem, followed by a near unbearable amount of killing intent bathed the camp.

She did the only thing she could think about: RUN.

* * *

*Southern sector*

Shino was using a combination of his bugs and throwing weapons to dispose of every bandit he found. If one were to see him, they would think him the perfect shinobi; calm in the face of death.

But in reality he was soaking the interior of his coat with sweat, and a grimace was plastered on his face, showing his not-so-obvious discomfort at having to kill.

He was finishing off a particularly stubborn bandit when he heard the explosion, before being shocked still when the killing intent washed upon him (on the back of his mind he registered that the man that was giving him problems dropped to the floor).

* * *

*Northern sector*

Naruto was in his element, the shadows had been his refuge when he played a prank or when a mob formed to hurt him; he was a creäture of the shadows, moving without seeing, only sensing the things around him.

He sneaked past several low-class bandits, drunks that were on the verge of slipping into an alcohol induced coma, towards the small shack where Hinata had told him the captives were held. At the back of his mind he was hoping to get a fight before he had to kill, which would help him deal with the stress of the deed.

He was about to make it to the door of the shack when he was bombarded by a rain of explosive kunai, making him jump back from his position, "Well, look at what we got here" an arrogant voice reached his ears, making him raise his head and prepare his falcon talons.

The owner of said voice was a man in his late teens, with dark hair, dark blue eyes, wore a piece of what could only be stolen armor, and black pants, "I wonder; How could you sneak until here without being detected, hm?" the man asked

"That is none of your business dattebayo" the hyperactive boy answered.

"Oh my, snappy aren't we?" He chuckled, before growing serious and throwing more explosives at the boy, who dodged them and responded in kind.

The man jumped from his perch on top of the house to dodge, only to move out of the way of a kunai-wielding hand attempting to skewer him.

The man (let's all call him Beagles) flipped back, making seals along the way. When he landed he let his jutsu fly "katon: gokakyu no jutsu" out of his moth came a giant fireball, heading straight at Naruto.

Naruto cursed, if it weren't for the fact that he wanted his talons out as fast as possible he would have performed a suiton technique, but as it was, the only technique he could use were his…SHADOW CLONES.

He created ten of them, substituting himself with a log to a nearby tree, and watched Beagles fight the cloned while he concentrated on his bloodline.

Beagles cursed when he saw the clones appear, he knew they were real when one pushed another out-of-the-way, and prepared for what he knew would be death-match.

He ducked under a punch and lashed out to the clone that attacked him, only for him to snap his arm back when a kunai came close.

A clone threw a kick that overextended, and Beagles capitalized on that, throwing a shuriken at the crotch (He winced when it hit, the clone may be his opponent, but he didn't wish on anyone that fate).

The fight now reduced to 9-on-1, he made a kawarimi, and prepared another jutsu, "Katon: Hinotama renpatsu" he spit a fireball upwards, said fireball divided ten feet off the ground, and fell on four unlucky clones.

He threw shuriken after shuriken, managing to dispel another clone, before he was engaged on a four-on-one battle.

A clone hit him on the shoulder, almost dislocating it, before he received a kick on the thighs; he snapped his arm to the clone on his right, hitting him on the neck.

Beagles jumped over a low kick, lashing backwards; but his kick was caught and he suffered a cut on his sheen, before nailing the clone with another kick, this one hitting head on.

The las two clones charged and he weaved between strikes, throwing a Kunai that caught each on the head.

His instincts screamed and he rolled to the side, finding a clawed foot falling where he was.

Naruto, the original one, went in for a stab that was parried, before slashing with his other hand, which was blocked by a kunai.

He disengaged, backpedaling, and waited. He assessed the damage his clones had inflicted; his opponent had a two wound on his leg, one on the arm, and his clothe were cut to ribbons.

He blocked a kunai charge, and snapped his left leg upwards, attempting a horizontal slash at the chest. The attempt was barely dodged, thin lines of red flowing slowly down the slashed top on Beagles.

Without waiting for a counterattack, he threw his leg downwards, and used the momentum to carry him for a double cut.

Beagles knew he couldn't win, the brat that had confronted him had too much energy, the ten clones were proof of that; he didn't look winded at all. And then there were those weird glowing claws of his; the damn things had made an already hard battle into an almost impossible one, he just didn't have anything that could help him against them.

He could try another jutsu, but that would mean leaving himself without chakra to help stop the bleeding of his injuries.

He tried to block the upcoming x-shaped cut, only to feel a searing pain where his arms were. He lifted them to his face; only to find a pair of bloody stumps where his forearms used to be.

Just as Beagle was about to scream, a blade found his neck, cutting his windpipe, just before he saw the world spin and the ground to come closer.

Naruto stood still as he watched Beagles head fall to the ground with a thud. As if on cue, when the corpse fell, he vomited; he threw up everything he had eaten in the day.

After several minutes of dry heaving, he moved to the shack, smashing the door with his talons (that he dematerialized immediately afterwards).

What he saw brought him out of his post-kill shock, and into another kind of shock; one of anger.

Men, women and children were all lying inside cages, their clothes were mostly rags, blood and dirt smearing them, the floor of the cages was incredibly dirty with feces and blood.

But what made him almost give in to his rage, was a single girl; probably a year younger than Konohamru, the poor girl was tied to a wall, the rags covering her even bloodier than the ones he saw on the people inside the cages, her eyes were swollen shut, and every visible part of her body was purple, lastly, some red lines were visible from the gashes on her 'clothes'.

He made a clone and had set up a clean space where the girl could rest, while he untied her and applied some of the healing salve Hinata had given every-one on the team, before taking her to the clone.

He laid her down where the clone pointed, and said, "Stay with her, especially if she wakes up, if anybody wakes up, give them a flask" he unsealed all the salve he had, "DO NOT dispel, no matter what happens"

When the clone nodded, afraid of what the boss could do when angry, Naruto walked out the door.

'_Socchi, calm down, I know you're angry, and I'm too, but don't let it get to you_' He vaguely heard his mother speak, but it was really low.

'_**Kit, calm the hell down, if you don't you'll go into a rampage**_' again, even with his booming voice, Kurama was barely heard.

He jumped the wall surrounding the camp, and let his rage be announced with an un-earthly roar, his body covered by a flame-like chakra

* * *

*Kurenai*

Kurenai cursed when she heard a roar that could only mean her student had been angered, and cursed again when the oppressive killing intent washed over her, immobilizing every bandit around her.

"Shino, Hinata, you have to get out of the camp, now!" she shouted to the inter-com, unknowingly snapping the former out of his stupor and the later to run faster.

It would be five minutes later when her students, minus Naruto, appeared, and another ten for the KI to banish.

* * *

*Back with Naruto*

Naruto had changed; his hair was now a bloody-red color, as were his eyes, his hands and feet had grown claws instead of nails, his head became more pronounced and his whiskers darker, making him look much like a humanized, red, snarling fox.

With another roar he charged at the tents in front of him, slashing at everything that DARED get on his path of destruction.

His hand snapped to the right, piercing the chest of a paralyzed bandit.

He charged chakra to his throat, before realizing it with a scream, launching everything he could see backwards, men dyeing when they fell on their necks.

The second roar had the side-effect of waking the bandits of their shocks, making them charge at the threat, intent on eliminating him, but every single one of them met bloody ends.

He spun around, hand in the air, and cut open the armed men that were trying to surround him, blood and guts falling from the gashes.

A tail grew out of the chakra surrounding him. He jumped forward and rolled, his new tail acting as a whip to smash anything it touched.

Fifteen minutes into his rampage the last of the bandits fell, and with him the cloak around Naruto.

* * *

*Team eight*

Naruto found his teammates huddled into their sensei, and flinched a bit, knowing it was him that caused them to be like that.

"The camp is destroyed" he said with a hollow voice that made his sensei flich, "the captives are with a clone of mine, I'll lead you there"

Kurenai stood up slowly, careful of staying close to her shivering students, and followed the new-redhead (though he still had a spot of orange on top of his head).

"What happened Naruto?" Kurenai asked, "We felt a powerful presence not too long ago."

Naruto was quiet for a moment, before answering in the same monotone, "they had a kid, tied up to a wall, I helped her, and left the house being watched by a clone" he looked down, "she had been tortured, I snapped"

That was what she had feared, she should have sent Shino or Hinata, but he was the strongest of the three, and she had been sure he wouldn't let his emotions get the best of him.

They walked in silence after that, Kurenai thinking of the repercussions her decision could bring.

They arrived to the shack with the broken door, Naruto dispelling the clone and moving to the side of the little girl he had rescued. The effects of the salve he had applied were already apparent; her skin was already darkening and becoming less upset. He moved closer, putting her head on his lap while rubbing her scalp. He stared at nothing, his thoughts on what he had done; willingly or driven by rage, he had killed more than three dozens of people, despicable people, but people nonetheless.

He glanced down to the girl resting on his lap; He didn't really know why, but he was feeling protective of the child, it probably was because of how his childhood was, he was alone most of his early years, and even when he met his mother and Kurama he was lonely at times.

He decided then, that he would protect the kid, take her to Konoha if she was an orphan and adopt her.

The rest of team eight had been working on releasing the captives and waking them up, before giving them a flask of healing salve and helping them get outside, telling them to wait.

Kurenai laid a hand on the red-head's shoulder, "everyone is outside, we're moving out" she told him. He nodded, and with care lifted her to a bridal carry.

* * *

**Woo, officially my LONGEST chapter, 3,420 words, took me three days, THREE BLOODY DAYS, it would have been faster had the teachers not decided to tell homework to dogpile on me.**

**Naruto's little sister, yay. If you have any ideas for her name (preferably an oriental one) send a PM or review, whatever you want to do.**

**Next chapter will probably be up on monday or tuesday, because I went to a course to prepare myself for an aplication exam and just got back when I uploaded this chapter, and then I'm going to pick up my dad from the airport.  
**

* * *

**RANT TIME.  
**

**Don't you get frustrated when someone iterrupts you when you are reading, writing, trying to sleep, playing vidiogames, watching TV, eating, working and all that important stuff, because I do.  
**

**Yesterday I was in class, seating on my desk, reading jurasic park, and this douchbag desides to sit on my book (I had put it on my desk a bit to strech my neck), has a shouting conversation with someone at his side, spits every time he talks, and is all around a general ass.  
**

**Then he gets up (had to air the poor book, it smelled of farts), and starts asking (read: demanding) that I help him with a project that was supposed to be handed-in in ten minutes (they were team projects, bastard didn't even knew who he was with), I tell no, he shakes my shoulders, still askig the same thing. In the end I fixed my best glare/cripiest smile on him and told him to fuck off.(Heard the dude mutter somthing about a mask when he finally went away).  
**

**Right, sorry about rambling, but I had to get it out off my chest.  
**

**Ja né  
**

**translation  
**

**Jigoku no shichō=hell veiwing  
**

**Shui no nise=false surrounding.  
**

**Jiko bakuhatsu=Suicide explotion  
**

**Hinotama renpatsu=fireball barrage  
**


	9. Back to Konoha

**Ison't own Naruto**

* * *

**Going back home**

*Forests of Hi no Kuni*Around midnight*

Naruto was still a storm of emotions when the group of four ninja and ninety people stopped for the night: Anger; at the bandits that stole this people's lives. Pity; because they had lost what they had. Self-anger; that he had lost control badly enough to go berserk. Compassion towards the girl on his arms. And sadness that he hadn't heard from his kaa-chan or Kurama since then.

During the time it took to get from the now-destroyed camp to the small clearing they now were, Naruto had taken to asking questions about the girl; what her name was? Did somebody know her? Was she liked?

Most people had answered 'no' to the questionsand the ones that didn't, had only seen her by passing, so he could only assume she was an orphan.

Kurenai-sensei had told them to get food; it was now half an hour later. He had made clones and had them gather berries and game animals, Hinata and Shino had gone for water to a stream nearby. The berries the clones had brought were now finished; every single one had been eaten. The rabbits, hares and squirrels the clones had caught were roasting over a fire; the ex-captives were eyeing them with hunger; they probably weren't fed in there.

He had applied more salve to the girl that was still sleeping; her injuries were now mostly superficial, a few bruises and scrapes. She was still dirty though, so the only thing he could tell was that she was a few months younger than Konohamaru.

He grabbed two animals from the fire, sealing one to give it to the girl when she awakened (He really had to give her a name, he couldn't just call her girl) and starting to nibble on the other, savoring the flavor; he hadn't eaten hare in monthsa nd he was starting to miss the taste.

He went to his tent shortly after finishing the whole animal, the child still close to him. He missed the hopeful look on his team's girl, the sad glance from his teacher and the slightly unnerved look he got from the Aburame.

He unsealed a small futon from one of the few scrolls he actually carried and laid on one side, the small child he had carried on the other side.

He lied awake for a long time, before finally succumbing to his sleep. Unfortunately he would awaken many times during the night, never sleeping for more than an hour at a time and always closer to the girl he had saved.

* * *

*The next morning*

Naruto awoke yet again without breath, panting and sweating after experiencing the same carnage from another perspective; He had awoken many times during the night because of the same nightmare, the carnage he was responsible of seen from an outsider point-of-view.

He sat there; cover pooling at his hips; panting and staring off a hundred yards, the previous night replaying on his mind. The only good thing was that he would probably get a little sister.

He glanced at his low right; the poor thing had snuggled close to him during the night, in-between his episodes. She was still covered in dirt and blood, but it was mostly dry and the only injury he could see was a gash on her shoulder, but that was scabbed already; it would probably fall off in a week, a day or two if he used what little salve he had, something he didn't want to use, not yet at least.

He reluctantly got up and out of the tent, leaving a clone in case the girl woke up and wanted an explanation.

He was the only one awake, the men and women they released from their cages were either sleeping inside tents or close to their couples. It was refreshing in a way; these people had lost their home, yet acted as if though this was just a camping trip. He wished he was still naïve, able to sleep without nightmares; it had lessened after his fifth birthday, the night he met his mother. The past night his sleep was restless; the seal had blocked to allow time for his body to get used to youki still coursing through him, so he couldn't hear his mother singing a lullaby, nor could he hug Kurama's body close to him.

He moved through the forest, once again hunting for food, his clones had set up traps last night; he would collect the catches still there and catch whatever he could before heading back to camp. Maybe he would start with the rasengan training, he had brought some water balloons to start it during the breaks at the farm, but the construction of the fence had been more tiring than he had thought and the flash assault on the bandit stronghold had left no time.

About four dozen small animals had fallen for the traps; of them only twenty were still intact. A few early birds had met their ends by a well-placed shuriken and their eggs would become part of the breakfast. He had been lucky enough to spot a deer, he was dragging the corpse back to the tents; he would skin it on the stream that was close to the clearing they stayed for the night.

By the time he was done Kurenai-sensei was starting another fire, Shino and Hinata were still inside their tents; what little sleep they had managed to catch would probably leave them soon.

"How did you sleep Naruto-kun?" Kurenai-sensei asked him; silence was her answer. She sighed, "If it helps any, try to think what would have happed to them," she motioned to the fast-asleep former-captives, "had you not done what you did"

Naruto's still-red bangs shadowed his eyes, "but what good is it when I lose control like I did back there?" he growled, "Had anyone other than that _scum_" the last word was spit out of his mouth, "been there, I would have killed them too," A sob escaped him, "I could barely think straight, the only thing on my head was how to make them pay for what they had done," a tear fell from his eyes, "what good am I when I let my blood-lust control me?"

For the first time since that fateful night when he met his tenants, Naruto cried for something other than happiness; the tears that were now flowing down his face were tears of frustration and self-loathing.

Kurenai moved to embrace her student, holding him while he cried his frustrations away. It would help him; he had probably bottled up everything until now, showing nothing but that smile he wore inside the village.

They would stay there for almost an hour and even though they wouldn't realize it 'till months later, but that would be when Naruto started seeing Kurenai as a sister, rather than just his sensei.

* * *

*Two hours later*

Naruto was finally starting his rasengan training; the past week he had finished every fuuton and suiton technique he had copied from the forbidden scroll; that elevated his jutsu arsenal to eight fuuton and fourteen suiton.

The _spiraling sphere _was just that; a sphere of pure chakra spinning so fast it looked as if though it was a whirlpool encased on a ball; The ultimate chakra form-manipulation technique and it was yet to be completed.

The whole training was divided on three parts; control, power and shape.

The first stage, control, was about popping a water balloon using your chakra to move the water inside it; move it to slow and the balloon doesn't pop, move it to fast and the only thing that happens is the balloon deforming. The whole point was to move it at the right speed on multiple directions.

"Kuso!" the problem was that, "THIS DAMN THING ONLY BREAKS" it was hard to concentrate on both speed AND direction, "the stupid balloon just doesn't stay together long enough to pop 'ttebayo!" That and Naruto had overloaded the balloons with water, so they were almost as big as his head instead of his fist, but he didn't know that.

So frustrated, he went to his tent to meditate, there was only one problem, in the form of a little girl, "umm, ano, why are there two of you"

* * *

*Ten minute earlier*Naruto's tent*

She woke up feeling strangely well and in a soft place; that was the first sign something had gone either extremely right or extremely wrong. Last thing she remembered was getting tied up to the cross the shack she was in had, then she remembered pain, and then she passed out, so something had happened to her.

Her breath hitched, had she been beaten so bad she died? But, but, "so you're awake" her eyes snapped open and she looked to her right, "I expected you to wake in the afternoon, though it's good you woke up now".

A boy of thirteen years, with red-orange hair, whiskers on his cheeks and purple eyes was staring at her, a tender smile on his face.

He was holding something to her, "here, eat this," she looked at it, fear and nervousness on her face, "don't worry, it's food, meat" she eyed him, "fine, look" he took a bite of the animal he was holding and offered it to her again, "see, it's okay, if a bit dry"

She warily took it and, with an almost excruciating amount of caution, took a bite. Immediately her face lit up and she dug in. five minutes later there were only bones left.

"W-where am I?" she asked after finishing the rabbit (not that she knew what it was), "W-who are you?" indeed, the boy had not introduced himself.

"Me? I'm Uzumaki Naruto dattebayo" he introduced himself with a thumb up and a grin, the 'nice guy' pose "And you're on my futon, in my tent, on a camp we made last night"

Her expression changed from happy to confused, she had been on a camp before, "last night my team and I got into the bandit camp you were in and got you and the rest out," his voice broke her out of her thoughts, "you were on a particularly bad shape, had to use most of the healing salve my teammate gave to me on you" he chuckled, "I guess I should have used a bit less, you're almost as good as new"

"Th-thanks for helping me" the girl bowed "I-I don't think we could have gotten out of there on ourselves"

Naruto grinned at her, a different grin from his introduction, that one had been a goofy one, this one was a proud one, "No problem, I did got paid to do it" he frowned, "not that I wouldn't have done anyway"

She looked at the flap of the tent and saw a boy that looked identical to the one she was talking to, "umm, ano, why are there two of you?"

The Naruto's looked at each otherand back at her, "he's/I'm a clone" the said in perfect unition. She looked at them, bewildered, a clone? "Yep, he is made out of my chakra" the red-head that just entered the tent continued, as if reading her thoughts, "for all intents and purposes we are pretty much the same" the original looked at his clone and said, "you can dispel now, I'll take it from here" the clone did as told and disappeared on a puff of smoke.

"Well then, I don't suppose you have a name?" Naruto smiled at her abashed expression.

"Megumi, my name is Megumi sir" she told him.

Naruto frowned and said, "Don't call me 'sir', I'm at least twenty years too young to be a 'sir'" he snorted "whatever, do you want to go clean up? You're pretty dirty after all"

At her nod he led her outside the tent and to the stream he had cleaned the dear on

* * *

*Three hours later*

The large group was once again moving through the forests that formed the Land of Fire. Megumi was riding atop Naruto's shoulder, talking to him about how her life had been before her capture at the hands of the bandits.

After she had washed away all the grime and dirt from her body, Naruto was able to get a clear look at her appearance. Her hair was a reddish-black, mostly straight, though there were a few bangs that were curled. Her eyes were a deep shade of forest green. Her face was rounded, giving her a chubby look. Finally she was rather tall, he estimated that she was at least two or three inches taller than Konohamaru.

They would reach the Leaf village in the afternoon, around six, and he would ask his jiji for the adoption papers for Megumi. She would become his sister.

* * *

*Gates of Konoha*Six thirty PM*

Izumo and Kotetsu were assigned yet again to be on guard duty. "maaaan, I'm bored" Kotetsu sighed, "It's so boring without Naruto, too quiet"

A snort came from his partner, "yeah, the gaki always finds a way to make a boring day livelier" he looked at the gates. A large group was approaching. Leading was a boy with a younger kid on his shoulders, followed by a woman dressed with bandages. "Holy" Izumo gasped, "That's team eight right?"

Kotetsu nodded, "yes, Hokage-sama sent them to clear a bandit camp" he grimaced, "bit early of you asked me, heard they didn't even had the exercises to make it easier"

Ten minutes later, the large group of civilians were being led by a jounin while team 8 plus one headed towards the Hokage Tower.

* * *

**Chapter finished, hope you liked it, it was pretty much spontaneus.  
**

**As I said some time ago there is a poll on my profile for the pairing, if you don't see a girl you like then suggest another on a PM or a review with the name and the arc she appears on.  
**


	10. Reaviling some truth

**New chapter, same owner**

* * *

**Reviling some truth**

* * *

*Hokage's office*6:30PM*

Kurenai was giving the report of both their missions to the old man, who nodded at some points, frowned at others and chuckled at some more. He frowned a lot during the report of the bandit clearing.

Of to the side were the young teens and the child. Naruto was behind the desk, showing the awestruck Megumi the sights that could be seen from there (he would take her to the Hokage Monument later). Shino was talking with his bugs, asking what was that Naruto had unleashed at the bandit settlement. And Hinata was meekly staring at everywhere if the office, but nowhere close to the Hokage.

Finally Kurenai's report was finished, "… And that's what happened Hokage-sama." She bowed before stepping back, motioning for her students to stand with her.

"Very well," Sarutobi started, "I trust you helped your genin handle their first kill, Kurenai?" at her affirmative he continued, "Good, good, you and your team are being put on leave for the week, only one d-rank per day" he closed his eyes in thought, before snapping them open, "also cut your training sessions in half, mostly concentrate on thing to get past the trauma," Kurenai nodded, "you may leave now, Naruto you stay, I want to talk with you"

The now-red-head gulped, recognizing the voice of the old man as the voice of a leader and not the one of a grandfather.

Team eight left through the door, each sending the blond their version of a concerned glance. Finally it was only him, Megumi, who was looking confused, and Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"What do you want to talk about, jiji?" the sweating blond asked his grandfather.

"How are you faring Naruto?" The old man asked, ignoring the question, "what you did was not something that would come easily for most men, I am surprised that you look as well as you do, both your teammates were looking pale" Sarutobi told him, looking at him with harsh, yet kind, eyes.

"I-it was hard jiji," the whiskered boy confessed, "I threw up just after I k-killed" his breath hitched, "but, after spending some time with sensei and Megumi I'm alright"

The old man considered his words. He looked at the girl that was looking at the purple-eyed boy, Kurenai had said that Naruto had gone on a rampage after seeing her tied up and beaten, yet he could see that even after only a day the two were close, not like siblings yet, but what she felt was exactly what Konohamuru felt for the teen. Given a few weeks they would most likely be as close as whole-life brother and sister.

"Another thing I want to know is if you know what made you go into rampage at the camp? Kurenai told me she felt K.I." the old man asked, but his voice DAMANDED an answer.

The boy looked sheepish, and the slightest bit ashamed, "it was the Kyuubi's youki," the old man narrowed his eyes, he had been sure the boy didn't know what the seal on his stomach contained, "I met Ku-Kyuubi when I was five" the aged Hokage didn't notice his slip, "It was after I was kicked out of the orphanage, I was so exhausted that when I passed out I went to my mind-scape"

Megumi had fallen asleep now, Naruto was relived about that, he would tell her when they were alone. He continued speaking before his grandfather could, "After that day I started speaking with the fox, he kept me company and eventually we became friends" more like brothers, but he didn't need to know that, "Inside my mind I learned how to fend for myself" not exactly a lie, his mother had taught him, "and when I started the academy he helped me get better control over my chakra, besides what you gave me and what I read"

Sarutobi mused over the words of the teen opposite to him. The boy had known of his burden, yet he hadn't come to him. He supposed it was because he himself hadn't brought it up; Naruto had the habit of keeping thing to himself unless completely necessary.

Their eyes met, and Hiruzen got the impression that the boy was still hiding something, something important, but what?

"You do realize that I could punish you for keeping a secret like that" the teen flinched, "I won't however, because it WAS supposed to be kept a secret" Sarutobi sighed, his age catching up a bit.

They stayed in silence for a while, the only sound being the soft snores coming from Megumi.

Finally Naruto spoke, "Jiji, I was wondering if I could adopt her" his eyes were silently defying the Hokage to say no.

The Fire-Shadow rubbed his temples; he had expected this honestly. He looked at his surrogate grandson, he had that look; the look that said that he would NOT back down, no matter what. "I must first tell you some things," the boy nodded, the look not disappearing, "adopting her will most likely mean that you will have to do at LEAST one D-rank mission a day" this time an affirmative grunt accompanied the nod, "you will have to expand your apartment…"

He was interrupted by Naruto, "That's not a problem; you bought the whole top floor for me"

Hiruzen nodded, he had forgotten that, "and lastly, she needs a place to stay whenever you get out of the village for missions," he held a hand, halting the response, "I know that you want to take her with you whenever you go on C-ranks and higher, but you can NOT." He looked at Naruto dead in the eyes, "you may be an adult on the eyes of the law, and she would be your legal daughter" though he doubted the red-head would see it like that, "it is forbidden to take a minor to any missions, even D-ranks"

Naruto scowled but nodded, he had expected that; he still didn't like it, but he had expected it. He would have to leave her with the Ichiraku's during his 'trips' outside the village, "I understand, don't worry Hokage-sama"

The old man looked surprised at the honorific; the boy had probably used it to get extra point with him.

He handed the thirteen-year-old the adoption papers. Thirty minutes and a clever use of the kage bunshin later, and Naruto left the tower with his sleeping '_daughter_', leaving behind an old man smashing his head on the desk, muttering 'stupid'

* * *

*The next day*Naruto's apartment*

Naruto awoke groggily the next day. Strangely enough his usually fast waking up cycle was incredibly slow that day, he stayed an odd amount of time in the land between asleep and awake. His head was throbbing for some reasons, and occasionally he would hear a shout of frustration or a sigh of disappointment inside his head; the seal was weakening again, in two days' time he would be able to communicate freely with his Kaa-chan and Kurama.

He suddenly noticed how heavy his chest felt, as it thou he had forgotten to deactivate his weight-seals for the night, but he knew that was not the case. Slowly he looked down from the roof and smiled when he took in the scene; Megumi, now Uzumaki Megumi, had sometime during the night found her way to his chest, curling around herself and snuggling into him with a happy and serene smile on her face.

He gently moved from the bed, careful to not wake her up, and went about his normal routine: exercise, a shower and preparing breakfast, which from now on would be for two. He would have to find a way to make the chisio bunshin less exhausting, to make it every time he left the village for more than a month, he wouldn't want to leave Megumi for herself, even if he did trust the Ichiraku with everything, after all, they were family in all but blood.

Two hours later the red-head was finishing preparing a normal breakfast; boiled rice, sunny-side-up eggs and bacon, if only he could eat ramen for breakfast.

A noise from the bedroom drew his attention away from the eggs. Megumi had woken up and was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, "come Megumi-chan, food's ready" he told her, and she sleepily made her way to the table.

They ate in silence, the nine-year-old occasionally nodding off, before catching herself and shaking her head in an attempt to get the sleepiness out of her system, "Hey Megumi-chan, get ready, we're going to have a busy day," the girl groaned, why couldn't they just sleep? That would be the perfect day, stay in a soft surface and sleep the day away. Her thought were interrupted however, as the teen continued talking, "I have to show around, where you can find me, where you'll study, the best place for eating in town, where the parks are" He looked at her and saw that her eyes had lit up at the mentions of parks, time for the finisher, "You could even make some friends, you know, for when I have to leave, but if you want to stay here, alone…"

Before he finished talking the girl was already heading for the corridor, searching for the bathroom to take a shower.

He sighed, while it was true that he would show her around, he would have to take her shopping, which meant entering the merchant district. While there were many shops that accepted him, if just for business, they all overpriced him. Only two clothing shops did not over charge him, and one of them was for ninja clothing, the problem with the other was that it's products were meant for more… aged targets, those that had just reached adulthood and onwards.

As much as he didn't like it, he would have to give Ayame-chan the money for her to take Megumi-chan shopping (unnoticed by him, his wallet, 'gama-chan', shed a tear, which soon turned into full crying).

* * *

*Ichiraku's*2:30 PM*

The chef and his daughter were preparing the food for Konoha's rush hour, many people would start to fill the small stand, and those would be the easy ones to deal with. The problem resided within a single teen-aged boy, who would soon come for his daily feed of ramen, a meal that would probably fill a medium family.

True enough, their main source of income came into the stand, and he wasn't alone, "Ohayo, Ayame-chan, Teuchi-oji" there was a little girl by his side.

"Hello Naruto-kun, you haven't come in a while" Ayame greeted him, a slight warning in her tone.

"Ah, well, you see, I had a mission out of the village, and, umm…" the smile on her face was scary, and this was from a kid that had faced dead by pranked ANBU on multiple cases.

Teuchi meanwhile looked amused at the boy trying to calm his daughter down. It warmed his heart, that even after his not-so-good early years the boy could function properly.

His eyes moved to the girl that was hiding behind the red-head, she was probably no older than nine, he noted, "And who might you be?" his question brought Ayame's attention from the red-head to the dark-haired girl that looked nervous.

Naruto sighed on relief, he had evaded a blade there, "This is Megumi-chan, found her on the way back to the village" he smiled, "she's living with me now"

The brown-haired teen raised her eyebrow, "really?" the girl nodded shyly "well then I suppose we convert you to a Ramen follower"

Megumi looked at Naruto confused, what the hell was a ramen follower? "That's right; I brought her so she could taste your awesome ramen dattebayo!" He exclaimed

The aged chef smiled, "well then, your first two plates are on the house," he took his note pad, "what will you have?"

"The usual oji-san" Naruto replied

"I-I want a beef ramen" Megumi ordered

"Coming up," Teuchi left to the kitchens

"Ayame-chan" the fifteen-year-old looked at Naruto, "I was wondering if you would like to come shopping"

The brown-haired teen smirked "Why Naruto-kun, are you asking me on a date?" she held back a grin when he saw the boy blush and sputter.

Naruto however, was embarrassed, and the innocent front Ayame was putting definitely didn't help, "I-it's not like that 'ttebayo!" he shouted, "Megumi needs to go shopping and will need advice!" Megumi looked in shock; he was going to let her buy what she wanted?

The innocent expression turned into a sad one, a pout dominating Ayame's face, "So Naruto doesn't lthink I'm pretty, I'm gonna cry" the trembling lip was a nice touch

"Ahh, please don't cry Ayame-chan, you ARE pretty, just don't cry" Ah, so easy it was to tease the boy.

Teuchi's voice cut into the conversation, "Ayame stop teasing Naruto and go with him, he will probably need help in the stores"

Ayame was sporting a REAL pout now, really, why couldn't she have fun with the boy? It was funny to see him riled up.

The rest of the meal was spent on lighter note, and after three bowls for Megumi (her conversion to The Ramen was successful), and the usual dozen for Naruto, him, Ayame and Megumi left for the shopping area.

* * *

*Naruto's apartment*nighttime*

A smiling Megumi and a crying Naruto entered the apartment. The predictions of gama-chan had been proven right; she was almost as skinny as when she was new.

They had hit the stores at four, and kept jumping from shop to shop all throughout the evening. A full wardrobe, a bed for when the expansion was complete, groceries, toys and a fox plushy had been bought, resulting on him being broke at the moment. Luckily he had resupplied his equipment the last week.

He made his way to bed after putting everything away, changing to his PJ's, Megumi doing the same.

The last thing he saw before falling asleep was the small body taking her place at his chest

* * *

**Chapter end, from now on expect them for mondays and fridays or tuesdays and fridays, depending on how harsh of a mistress is the muse being, and don0t worry, I'll put up a A/N whenever it decides to leave.**

**And now for something completly different: vote for your favorite girl for the pairning  
**

**And now for something completly different: a non-cliché farewell.  
**

**And now for something completly different: a man with three buttocks  
**

**That's it for today, hope you like the references.  
**


	11. Troubling news

**It's MINE  
**

***random voice* "NO IT ISN'T"  
**

**Fuck**

* * *

**Troubling news.**

* * *

*Konoha's training ground eight* One week later*

It was a beautiful day in Konohagakure no Sato; the sun was bright, the animals lively, and the children were playing outside, laughing and having fun

"YATTA, I FINALLY MANAGED IT DATTEBAYO!" The hero of this story was on his team's training ground. During the past week Naruto had been trying master the first step of the rasengan to an acceptable level; that level being popping the balloon in less than ten seconds.

'_Good job socchi, you can start on the second tomorrow_' the seal had also gotten back to normal, allowing him to communicate with Kushina and Kurama. He still shivered whenever he remembered the 'additional training' his mother had put him through (she had driven him to the ground in her anger at him losing control).

"Wow, onii-chan, that's awesome" Megumi had started to see him as a brother, which made him ecstatic the first time she called him that.

"Yeah bosu, ne, can we do it to?" Konohamaru started to follow him every once in a while, hoping for a bit of learning that would be given.

"It would be so cool if we could" With Kono had come a friend of his, Moegi, a girl with v-shaped orange pigtails, a red top and tan pants.

The three of they would later be known as the Konoha-corps, but that is a story for another time.

Naruto smiled, happy that they were as eager to learn as he was when he was younger, "I can't teach it to you yet" he told them, "I have to master it myself first" he chuckled at their downtrodden looks, "although I think I can teach you something"

Their face did a complete one-eighty from disappointed to eager, was he like that whenever his kaa-chan taught him something new.

'_Yes you were, you would jump in place for ten minutes before I taught you the theory part of a jutsu'_ forget he asked then.

'_Did you really have to ruin the moment?'_ He scowled

'_I love you too socchi'_ forget it.

"Eh, bosu, are you okay?" right, he had some brats to teach.

"No, no, don't worry Moegi-chan" he cleared his throat, "I'm going to teach you the henge no jutsu" he looked at the time, he had one hour before the mission time, "I'm just going to tell you the theory behind it, I'll have to leave soon.

"The henge, or transformation, is one of the easiest yet most useful techniques there is, the reason it's a basic.

"The one you will learn in the academy is a genjutsu, it makes your chakra fool anyone looking at you to think you are another person, or you have a different build.

"The main problem with it, is that if you transform into something that is bigger or smaller than you the illusion will be easier to notice, or if you touch something it will dispel" Konohamaru raised his arm

"Doesn't that make it useless? I mean, if it can break so easily then it can't be as useful as you say" He asked, and the red-head nodded in agreement

"Indeed, but it is good for academy to teach because it doesn't require big chakra reserves" he smirked, "but it IS useless in the field, which is why I'm teaching you a variation, a better one, the shin no henka no jutsu, the true change technique.

"It works much like my kage bunshin, it creates a shell of chakra, but instead of making a different, thinking entity, it molds around you in the form you want.

"This has disadvantages too; you can't become something smaller, only bigger, your equilibrium is severely damaged if you change your shape too much.

"I'll be honest; the three of you can cast it, but only Kono would be able to hold it for more than five minutes, and it will leave you all exhausted after doing it.

"I don't want you to do it without me watching, too dangerous for your health, and after you managed it for the first time I'll have you do exercises for you to increase your reserves," he looked at his watch, ten minutes before he had to report, "now come one, we're heading back to the village."

The trip back was spent explaining the many uses of the technique he would teach them

* * *

*Hokage's office*

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a patient man, a direct result of his old age. He had lived through wars, and while he was still a warrior at heart, he would always prefer the peaceful approach to the problems that threatened the village.

He often saw young people leave the safety of the walls of Konoha in a quest for the fame that being a ninja could bring; some of them made it past their thirties, most of them did not get past twenty-five without a scar to mark the turning point of their lives.

He would often wonder if it was right, sending children and teenagers to kill bandits; it would scar them in the deepest part of their hearts, but such was the way of the shinobi.

Two days ago he had sent a team of young prospects to a country in need of help, team seven was that team; they had encountered more than what they had expected and were now requesting back-up.

The scene team eight saw when they entered the office was that of grim old man, eyes made of steel. It was a scene that made the usually happy Naruto stand attentive at what his leader would tell them to do.

After a few seconds, in which the Hokage looked at each of them in the eye, he spoke, "Team 8, yesterday a messenger summon came to me with a message from the captain of team seven" he paused, daring anyone to interrupt, "in the message was a request for back-up," Kurenai's ruby-colored eyes widened, "they came across missing-nins on the way to Nami no Kuni, the country they were supposed to take their client to," Nami no Kuni, if what his kaa-chan was telling him was right, Naruto could go to the destroyed land of Uzu after the mission, "this made the ranking of the mission jump from a C-rank, to a possible A-rank," he held a hand up, halting the response from the sensei in the room, "I would have sent a chunnin team, but the only ones available are loner ones that recently got promoted and are preparing for their own assignments." He sighed, what he would do was hard for him, "team eight, you are to go to the rendezvous point on Nami and help squad seven in their mission, dismissed" he slid a scroll across the desk before turning his seat around, showing that no arguments would be heard.

Kurenai closed her eyes, couldn't they have a normal mission for once "meet me at the gates in half an hour, I'm leaving wheter or not you're there"

With that said she left the room, her students following some ways behind.

* * *

*Southern gates* twenty minutes later*

Naruto arrived last of the group, a note in his hand that was addressed to Hokake-jiji.

Kurenai had arrived ten minutes after being dismissed; having taken a pack that was pre-made for this kind of things.

Hinata had arrived five minutes after; one of the storage scrolls Naruto had given her was filled with healing materials and first-aid kits.

Shino arrived shortly after her, with a pack full of insect tanks, and scrolls with provisions and clothes.

Naruto, like always, had sealed everything he would take on various scrolls, sealed in turn on his master scroll. He had taken Megumi to the Ichiraku's, she would stay with them during his time outside the village (hopefully he would find the Uzumaki nin-fuinjutsu notes to make the chisio bunshin a more viable option).

"Before leaving I will tell you that this is going to be a very big exemption to the rank-range rules and it will most likely not be repeated" Kurenai told her team, who nodded in agreement, "good, now come on"

Naruto looked down to his hand, "Kotetsu the man looked up from his game of solitaire, "could you send this to the Hokage as soon as you can no longer see us?" he handed the bemused man the note he had written.

"Um, sure Naruto, but why not give it to him in person?" he was confused really, messages to the Hokage were usually sent DURING mission, not before them.

"Because I don't think he will like what I will do" now that was new, Naruto disobeying the Fire Shadow?

Before he could speak his thought however, Naruto left to catch up with the rest of his team, leaving the 'Eternal Chunnin' to contemplate the note.

What could Naruto say that would displease the Hokage so much that he had to write a card explaining what he would do? I wasn't Naruto's style; he normally did as he pleased as long as it was within the law, going as far as to find loopholes in the Konoha charter.

There was something going on, and the only way to find out was to pass the card to the Village Leader.

* * *

*Hokage's office*Ten minutes later*

'SLAM' Hiruzen slammed both fists on his desk, making it snap in two.

Five minutes ago, one of the chunnin assigned to guard duty had barged into his office carrying a note from his surrogate grandson. Said note had something he had not expected to hear, that Naruto held way more secrets than what he had thought.

_Jiji._

_I'm writing this because I don't think I can say it to your face; I know you don't like me stepping to much out of the line, but what I'll do is something that must be done; I can't let you stop me._

_Jiji, I have many secrets, secrets that I don't want to reveal, secrets that I CAN'T reveal to you yet; this is one of them. _

_I wanted to tell you this in person, and on a later date, but it cannot wait any more; I know who my mother is, I know where my family is from, I'm going to visit my country after this mission is done. It's something I MUST do, to finally give closure to the defeat of Uzu._

_I know why you hid it from me: To prevent me from being prosecuted by the people who would want the Uzumaki bloodline. I don't blame you; I would have done it slightly different though._

_I still don't know who my father is, so that is still a secret kept from me; again, I know why you're hiding it._

_I will probably come back with the remaining Uzumaki archives, the ones that survived the Kumo-Iwa invasion. So please keep the civilians off my back when I get back._

_If you could buy me the rest of the complex I live in, it would be appreciated; just take it out of half the share I get from all the missions I do from now on._

_I will explain how I know of my heritage get back, for if you want to know. Just please, PLEASE, don't try to pry too much into me, there are some things that I want to take with me to the grave._

_I hope you aren't too mad at me for keeping secrets, but you know what would happen if some thongs got out in the open._

_Don't worry, Uzumaki Naruto._

Needless to say, Hiruzen was frustrated: Naruto had somehow managed to hide knowledge like that from him, something deemed impossible by many. Not only that, but who know what else he knew; it could be something as small as the names of all his gennin, to something as serious as the patrol routes and schedules.

He would interrogate that boy when he came back, and damn if he wasn't going to be harsh.

* * *

**Chapter end.**

**I wrote this pretty fast, since I didn't have much to do on saturday, but because I was out yesterday I didn't upload it.  
**

**Right, next chapter marks the begining of the wave arc, and after the battle of the brige is done Naruto will go to Uzu no Kuni, the ruins of Uzushiogakure no Sato.  
**

**Also, next chapter will probably be larger than normal, from around 3,000 to 4,000, depending on what hits me.  
**

**The poll for the pairing will be up until the end of the year, and as it's stated there, if the votes for first and second place are equal, I'll consider a threesome, but no guaranteesm so don't get your hopes up.  
**

**That's all until the next update, Ja Né  
**

**Translation  
**

**Shin no henka=true tranformation  
**


	12. Nami

**I don't own it, just Megumi and a character intoduced this chapter**

* * *

**The Wave that cleanses**

* * *

*Wave country*

Kakashi threw himself at his students and client, sending them all to the ground.

'THUNK' he stood up and looked behind, to the giant cleaver that had embed itself on the trunk of a tree, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a rough voice brought the attention of everyone to the handle of the massive sword, "Sharingan no Kakashi, no wonder the Onikyōdai fell their attempt, a high-end A-rank ninja wouldn't be taken down by two lower-B-rank ones" The man standing there scoffed, "I hope you can give me a good fight, otherwise I'll just kill the old man hiding behind your brats"

"Momochi Zabuza" Hatake narrowed his eye, he would need some lucky shots against that cleaver of him "I should have expected it, you became a mercenary after your failed coup"

The man, Momochi Zabuza, was a few years younger than Kakashi, with black hair and eyes, and the lower part of his face covered by bandages and only wearing a pair of gray pants apart from some camouflaged leg and arm warmers.

He jumped down, dislodging the cleaver on his way down, "I suppose I'm well known because of that, but you forget the reason Kiri is now on civil war"

Kakashi's eye narrowed even more, news of a 'Blood rebellion' had been traveling across the elemental nations, and the man he was staring at was the cause.

The eyebrow-less man chuckled, "I assume that you won't hand the drunken man over" Kakashi moving into a stance was his answer, "I see, well then," his hands moved into a sign, "Kirigakure no jutsu"

Instantly, the mist around them became thick and heavy, reducing the sight of team seven to a meager range.

Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba moved closer to Tazuna, each with a kunai at the ready.

The killing intent washed over them, paralyzing them in place, Sasuke was pretty sure that Tazuna was close to passing out, and that Sakura was about to lose control of her bowels, he himself was only holding up because of THAT day.

"There are eight places where even a glancing blow can be fatal" Zabuza's voice came from everywhere yet nowhere, "the larynx, the spine, the lungs, the liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian artery, the kidneys, and the heart" the KI multiplied, "Where should I strike first?"

The copy-cat cursed when he looked at his students, they were stiff with fear, "Don't worry guys," the faces of the youngsters snapped to him, "As long as I am here nothing can happen to you" he moved his headband fully to his forehead, uncovering a red eye with three tomoe markings, which made Sasuke gasp

"Touching words, but can you keep them?" a voice whispered in his ear, before he felt cold metal at his throat.

"I wouldn't cocky if I were you Zabuza" a blade touched the neck of the missing-nin "You're not the only one that can use water release you know" the Kakashi Zabuza was holding turned into water

"So you copied my mizu bunshin after seeing once?" once again a blade was pressed to Hatake's throat, and he stabbed man in front of him, turning him to water "but I expected that, a fight against the famed sharingan is impossible to win if you don't think ahead"

Kakashi kicked backwards, making Zabuza step back and giving him room to maneuver.

He spun the knife around, changing the grip, and moved to engage the ex-Kiri ANBU in close range.

He ducked under a swipe from the massive sword, only to roll away from a slash that made the cleaver dig unto the ground.

He moved fast and slipped under the guard of the bulkier man, making several attempts at slashing that were either dodged or blocked by the handle of the zambatou .

Zabuza smirked under his bandages after an over extended slash. He spun around, bringing the dull side of his Kubikiribocho against Kakashi, sending the Konoha-nin to the pond at the side of the clearing, where he sank under the surface; he had gotten him into his trap.

The white-haired man shot up from the water, sending chakra to the water so he could use it as a hand-hold; any second spent on the water was a second spent on enemy territory. _'Why is the water so heavy? It's almost as if it were_' his eyes widened _'charged with chakra'_

"And I win Kakashi, too bad you didn't give much fight, it would have been a thrill if you did" Zabuza ran to where the Copy-nin was half-way in the water. Making hand-signs he called for one of his few capture jutsus, "suiton: suiro no jutsu" And so, Hatake Kakashi had been trapped

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was in trouble, and he knew it: He had requested a C-rank mission in order to give his students a wake-up call. They were good kids, but arrogant; the brooding boy that went along on his families' fame, the feral boy that had too much confidence on his strength and the girl that worried about training only the necessary and not enough to improve in the areas she was talented in.

Their growth rate had been slower than that of most genin because of that, yet they were still on the higher end of the rookies, at least the male were.

During the trip that would take them to the country their client had lived in, they had encountered missing ninjas from Kirigakure no Sato, so he requested back-up before continuing on; after the sob-story the drunken architect had given him, he just couldn't abandon him.

Now, here he was, trapped inside a suiro no jutsu, watching as his students fought the Kirigakure no Kijin alone.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was scared witless for the second time of his short life: The first time had been when his brother had gone mad and killed the whole Uchiha clan before proceeding to make him watch the massacre inside a genjutsu.

The reason he had accepted to continue the mission had been because he wanted to test his strength with a chunnin that was already aware of his abilities so he could officially consider himself a C-to-B-rank shinobi, and while he thought that fighting a jonin was worth it, he was beginning to regret that decision.

The killing intent the monster in front of him released had paralyzed him on sheer terror, his knees were buckling, his hands sweating and his head clouded.

And now that his sensei was trapped in that weird water ball he had little to no chance of getting out of there alive if the back-up didn't arrive.

* * *

Inuzuka Kiba felt, for the fourth time od his life, as if the Shinigami was hot on his heels. The first time was when he had insulted that crazy woman his sister hung around with, the second when he got lost on the wood and entered the territory of a tiger. The last time he had felt like that was when he taunted the Uzumaki with insults thrown at the boy's mother; he had been on the hospital for a week after that.

Right now though, he was wishing to go back to those simpler times, when the only thing he had to worry about was how Akamaru was growing and how badly had he done at the academy.

The main problem was that he didn't, no one on their team really, know how to repel killing intent, and they could only ignore so much before it got unbearable.

He, like the rest of his team, could only hope the back-up their sensei had requested got here soon.

* * *

Haruno Sakura had been raised by a civilian merchant that had established in Konoha. Her mother was part of the merchant's guild and her father worked in one of the many clothing shops that were strewn about in the village.

That being said, she had joined the ninja ranks because of the glamour she thought it would bring; never had she expected that she could die because of a severe case of misinformation at the hands of an old man.

She had thought that whatever her sensei gave to her would be enough to get her to chunnin, and never even considered to seek someone to expand on her great grasp at chakra control or chakra induced strength; but she would start seeking advice and training from other sources if they got out of this situation alive.

* * *

Momochi Zabuza had lived a rather…bloody life. His childhood on the 'Bloody Mist' had been one of the many things that had broken him and turned him into the man he was now: A monster that always loved to spill the blood of those who opposed him on his goals.

At the age of nine he had been forced to kill his best friend on a battle staged by his academy, an act that left him so scarred that he proceeded to kill everyone so that none that came after him would have to do it again.

When he was a jonin he had found a girl on the streets, a girl that would later become his first apprentice and part of his legacy, even if he thought she was too gentle.

Three weeks later another kid, this time a boy, would become attached to him too, making him his second apprentice and the second part of his testament.

When he joined the 'Kirigakure no Shichinin Sho' he protected the village he had been born in because of a sense of obligation, rather than want; he had become delusioned with the path his hometown was taking.

By the time the Kaguya attacked Kiri, he was so hopeless in it that he ran away with his apprentice and left to wait 'till such time that it became the great village it once was.

He had always liked the thrill of the battle, the adrenaline pumping and the senses overloading; he had been ecstatic when he saw that Hatake Kakashi would be his rival for the battle, a ninja of his reputation would be the experience of a lifetime.

He knew that Hatake would find a way to break out if his water prison, but until then, why not have some FUN?

* * *

*Team eight*A mile into the sea from Wave's beach*

"Sensei" Naruto's whisper broke through the silence of their boat ride, "What's the plan when we get there? Do we set our own camp or search for the other team?"

Kurenai thought on the question, it was a valid one, she supposed, set a camp before nightfall or find the team that had requested back-up as soon as they arrived? Both had its merits; on one hand they could arrive fast but not at a 100%, on the other they could rest for the night and help during the next day when they were at the top of their current capabilities.

She sighed; "we'll look for Kakashi's team as soon as we land, if they are on battle I'm sure they'll appreciate the help" Her team nodded.

"A-ano, sensei," Hinata whispered, her byakugan active, "there is a lot of chakra being released inland," she looked at Kurenai, "most of it is channeled to the mist around a pond"

They were landing now, the boatman nodded at them before setting off into the mist around the island, "we're moving fast, if I'm right, they need help now more than ever" she looked at her team's juggernaut, "prepare your weapons Naruto, we can't afford to hold back"

The boy nodded, and the team leapt across the forest, intent on aiding their comrades

* * *

*Back with team 7*

Sasuke was desperate now; they would have to fight until whoever was coming arrived, if they ever did. A glance at his wild teammate sent the thought across.

"We need to fight dog-boy" The Uchiha told him, "Hopefully we can release sensei, and he'll finish Zabuza off"

Kiba nodded, still scared speechless, but aware enough to know what would happen if they didn't fight.

Sasuke ran at the water clones that had sprung from poodles on the grass, intent on taking some of them out.

Kiba had Akamaru transform into him, so the two of them could fight together, as true Inuzukas would.

A clone of the dozen engaged on a taijutsu battle with Sasuke. The boy dodged, ducked and rolled out of the massive sword's way.

He tried to get punches in whenever an opening presented itself, but whenever he tried it the attack was quickly countered and a bruise would form

He kicked after standing up from a duck under a swing that left the clone open at the chest. The clone took a step back, dazed from the kick, which allowed the Uchiha to stab it in the lung.

Kiba swiped at the clone he was currently fighting, retracting his arm quickly and jumping aside a vertical slash. Akamaru spun from behind the clone and did a roundhouse.

The clone blocked the strike with its forearm, grabbing the offending limb and swinging in an arch, making boy and beast-clone crash into one another.

Righting themselves they shouted "Gatsuga" And barreled into the clone from the back and the front, managing to dispel it from the hit.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" A voice familiar to those from Konoha brought a smile of relief to their faces.

Five of the remaining clones were stabbed at a part of their body, making them nothing but poodles on the ground

One was disrupted by a palm strike to the 'heart', rendering it useless.

Two were shrouded by insects that sucked the chakra out of them, making them just water.

The last two fell to a kunai to the throat.

Four people dropped to the ground, all of them on guard and staring at the Demon of the Mist

"Hinata, Shino, stay with the client" Kurenai spoke with the voice of the leader, "Naruto, is it only us around?"

Naruto crouched and put his palm to the floor, he closed his eyes and his hand glowed blue, "Yes, I think, some animals are running away, but yes" the purple-eyed red-head answered, getting into stance again.

Zabuza meanwhile was having a mental struggle, '_Damn, more brats and a woman, at least they look competent_' His eyes narrowed when the red-eyed woman started making hand-signs he didn't recognize.

"Genjutsu: Zenshin fuzui no jutsu" Kurenai spoke, and the bandaged man felt his arms and legs lose mobility.

The Demon of the Mist tried in vain to move, not succeeding on any of his attempts. He had one option, one that would leave him with an up-hill battle; interrupt his chakra-flow and release Hatake.

"I admit you were smart at requesting reinforcements Kakashi" He slowly moved his chakra inward, a flare of his chakra would make his students come, "Still, better for me, more food to feed The Demon" with a grunt all of his pent-up chakra was released, making the younger Konoha-nin gasp as it hit them.

Kubikiriboucho was on the move as soon as Zabuza's mobility was back, attempting to behead the still dizzy white-haired man, but the attack was blocked by a reinforced kunai.

"Nice save Kurenai," The Copy-nin panted out, "You could have gotten here a bit earlier though, I was about to lose consciousness" His eyes moved from the Genjutsu Mistress towards the swordsman, "How about we finish this?" he asked with an air of nonchalance

He dodged under a swipe and aimed a punch at the stomach of his opponent.

The punch was grabbed, as was the counter-attack with the flat side of the sword.

Both jonin jumped back and started moving in zigzags patterns, clashing blades whenever they met at the center of their trajectory.

They ran back, making the same hand-seals at the same time, '_how is copping me?_' Zabuza asked himself, '_It's like he can see'_

"What I'll do? That's you're thinking right" His thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi.

'_It must be'_ "That eye of his," '_I'm starting to'_ "Get pissed off" _"stop finishing_" "My sentences"

"Suiton: Suryudan no jutsu" they chanted at the same time, clapping their hands together

Two dragons rose out of the water, circling around each other, snapping bites at the other, before rearing back, roaring and crashed head-on into the other, raining water over the six gennin and single jonin watching.

Zabuza glared into Kakashi's eyes, _'I am starting to hate' _"that bloody monkey?" Once again they started making hand-seals, but unnoticed by everyone was the fact that Kurenai was doing them too.

"Kake me no jutsu" she whispered, planting the illusion on Zabuza.

Said monster looked up from the feet of his opponent to his face, to see himself in the place where Hatake should be, '_What? How? Am I looking at a mirror?_'

The monetary pause was what Kakashi needed to finish his chain before Zabuza did, "SUITON: DAIBAKUFU NO JUTSU!" He shouted.

A large wall of water formed in front of the Copy-cat, making Zabuza still with shock. The wall then rushed forward, taking the Kijin with it and slamming the man into a tree.

"Zabuza, your future has been decided" The downed man looked at Kakashi, "The Shinigami awaits your arrival"

Just as Kakashi was about to thrust his kunai into Zabuza's chest, two senbon pierced the man's neck, making his eyes widen, before he fell forward.

"Thank you Konoha shinobi" a voice brought the attention of the group towards a tree, two figures were standing on a branch, "my partner and I have been hunting him for a while now" the one that spoke was certainly more feminine, but both had ryōshi-nin masks from Kiri on, hiding their faces.

The more masculine of the two jumped down from his perch, and spoke in a hard tone, "We'll be taking him now, Mizukage-sama has been asking for his corpse for a while now," he picked the body up, "Than you again for letting us get the drop on him" and both hunters disappeared.

It would be Naruto that broke the silence that ensued, "That was rather anticlimactic, wasn't it?" everyone nodded in agreement.

The guards were dropped eventually; Kakashi covered his sharingan, Naruto let his talons disappear, Akamaru transformed back and Hinata deactivated her byakugan.

Kakashi spoke in between panting breaths, "Again Kurenai, thank you for the help, I think the battle would have been drawn out if you hadn't arrived"

Kurenai rolled her eyes; Kakashi's lone eye was straying around her body, "Save it Kakashi," she told him.

The bridge builder scratched his neck and spoke to the ninjas, "I'll be taking you to my home now" the kids nodded, "It's about a mile away, so we shouldn't take long"

Kakashi nodded, though his eye was becoming half-lidded, "lead the way then" he managed to say before he went to blissful unconsciousness.

He was cached by Naruto, who deactivated his weights. The boy grunted under the weight and noticed the worried looks sent his way, "Don't worry, he's got chakra exhaustion, nothing that doesn't go away with a good meal and a lot of sleep" he told team seven, before muttering to himself, "I should know, bloody Uzumaki training"

Kurenai cleared her throat, "If we could get going Tazuna-san"

The man nodded and set off, everyone following after him.

* * *

**Chapter done, finished it yesterday.**

**Zabuza's second apprentice was pretty much a spur of the moment thing, came up with him when I foud a mistake I made on the drawing board.  
**

**Just like with Megumi, I would like some names for HIM, the clan's name is decided, and since I believe that Kiri had who-knows-how-many bloodlines before the purges, HE will have one, it's also been decided already.  
**

**The poll for the pairing will be up until the end of the year, so go pick your favorite girl out of the ones there.  
**

**Suggestions and critisism are welcome as always, flames will be ignored.  
**

**Ja né**

**Onikyodai=demon brothers  
**

**Kirigakure no Shichinin Sho=seven ninja swordsmen of the mist  
**

**Dabakufu=great waterfall  
**

**Suryudan=water dragon bullet  
**

**Zenshin fuzui=Temporal paralisis  
**


	13. Riding the Wave

**Riding the wave**

* * *

*Nami no Kuni*evening*

The entourage was standing in front of a rather humble house at the edge of the ocean. It had two stories and was rather traditional.

Tazuna knocked on the door. It was answered by a woman in her late twenties, with straight black hair, fair skin and dark eyes.

Her eyes widened at seeing Tazuna, with a cry of "Otousan" she launched herself to the old man, making him take a step back to keep from falling over.

She noticed the large group behind her father and stood back. "Who are they, father?" she asked the builder.

Tazuna grinned, "They are the super ninjas that got me here," he turned to the sweat dropping group, "Everyone, this is my daughter, Tsunami"

Tsunami seemed surprised before she bowed to them, "thank you for bringing my father back" she told them.

The group looked confused at the woman, and everyone had different reactions; two of them being Naruto scratching the back of his head and Hinata blushing, but that was usual for them.

Kurenai, as the only responsible adult awake, took charge of the situation, "It was nothing, Tsunami-san" she told the bowing woman, who straightened herself, "would you be so kind as to direct my student," she motioned to Naruto, who adjusted Kakashi, "to a room where he could put my partner?"

She waved them all inside, "Of course, please come in" she guided them to the stairs, "Inari, come to greet our guests!"

A boy, no older than eight, came down the stairs, looked at them with disdain, and ran to hug his grandfather, "Ojii-san, It's good to have you back" he spoke from within the embrace.

The drunken-builder smiled at the kid, "It's good to see you too, Inari" He pointed at the shinobi gathered at the small living room.

The disdain was once again the main emotion seen on the boy's face, completely a 180 from the affection shown to his grandpa, "They're going to die within the week" following the statement, he ran up the stairs, ignoring the shouts from his mother.

Tsunami sighed at her son, "sorry about him, he has been like that for a while now" she apologized.

Unnoticed by his sensei, Naruto made a mocking face pointed at the roof, meant for the kid closed inside his room, making the gennin present snicker.

"Don't worry Tsunami-san" Kurenai told the woman, "now, of you could tell Naruto where to put the man he's carrying…" she let the sentence hang.

Tsunami shook her head, "yes, I only have two rooms, so pick one of the doors on the left side of the corridor upstairs".

Naruto nodded, and adjusting Hatake once again, started climbing the stairs. He ignored the sniffling coming from one of the rooms, unsealed one of the bedrolls inside his arm and set the unconscious man down.

'_When do you think he'll be up, Kaa-chan?_' He asked as he made he inspected the room.

Kushina hummed in thought, '_Knowing Kakashi, he's going to awaken tomorrow, and be at his top in a week_'

Naruto felt his eyes widen in surprise, '_You know him?_' he sent.

Kushina cursed quietly, she hadn't planned to let that slip, now how to answer without giving away Minato's identity as his father, _'he was constantly sent on a lot missions with your father during the last war_' that was as much as she could give without telling him, '_And he befriended him during his youth._'

'_Do you think he could tell me stories about Tou-san?_' he asked, he really wanted to know his father better, even if his Okaa-san couldn't tell him who he was.

Kushina considered his question. It couldn't hurt, hearing someone's opinion, one that wasn't hers, '_Sure, but remember, you can't know his name until you're at least…_'

She was cut off by an annoyed Naruto, '_Tokubetsu jonin so I can defend myself in case it gets out and his enemies come to get me_' She had told him this every time he asked when he was younger, he probably knew the ensuing rant that would follow if he hadn't interrupted by heart.

When Kushina was about to retort, Naruto was called downstairs by his sensei, effectively cutting off the discussion.

He ran down the stairs, jumping over the las three steps. He vaulted over the back of the couch and sat himself between his teammates, "This is a nice place 'ttebayo" he told Hinata, who blushed at closeness.

Kurenai face-palmed at his student, really, why couldn't he keep the seriousness outside of battle? She looked at the gennin of team seven, who were seated on the somewhat smaller sofa, "Kids I'm going to be in charge until your sensei wakes up" she told them, "What was the las thing he showed you?"

Sasuke looked at his teammates before answering, "He told us that we mastered the tree walking last week, we've been at it so it's more natural"

Sakura added something of her own, "He wanted to teach me a genjutsu this week, it would be the third"

Kurenai nodded, she had suspected that, the girl had small reserves and good control. Still, she would have to get out of the fan girl phase. She had been staring at the Uchiha for a while now

Kiba spoke when the woman looked at him, "He has been helping me improve my speed, for my taijutsu"

Kurenai nodded again, it was more than what she had expected, honestly the man was so lazy and laid back that she was sure he would have let them train on their own after improving what he believed was more important than anything.

"Has he tested your natures yet?" she wasn't expecting a positive answer; she herself hadn't tested her students, though she was going to do it if the mission hadn't interfered. The only reason Naruto knew his was because he had had trouble with the normal bunshin.

Sakura and Kiba assumed curious expression and shook their heads, while Sasuke only grunted in response.

"Naruto" she called to her hyper student, who looked up from his discussion with Shino, "Do you have some special paper inside your seals?" The boy looked confused, before his face lit up with understanding and he nodded, "How many?"

Team seven, Hinata, Shino and the civilians present looked on in confusion as Naruto's face screwed up in thought wjile he crossed his arms and looked at the tattoos on them.

Finally he sighed, "I-I think I have three, maybe four," he told her, shaking his head, "I was going to give them to you sensei, but it slipped my mind" he admitted sheepishly.

The red-eyed woman sighed at her student, once again questioning his mental capacity. She shook those thoughts off; someone that could prank the ANBU was by no means an idiot, especially if he did it repeatedly.

"I'll have to ask the hentai if he has some, then" she muttered. She turned so she could look at everyone present, "I believe we should go unpack, Tsunami-san, Tazuna-san, call any of us if you need help"

The civilians nodded and the young gennins followed upstairs, the boys entering the bigger of the two rooms and the girls the smaller one.

* * *

*Dining room*8:50 PM*

There wasn't anything noteworthy for diner. It was tasty, as most homemade food was, but because the hold Gato had over the country, everything was half-spoiled.

It was a silent affair, the only noise coming from cutlery scrapping the plates, with the occasional rustling from someone shifting his position.

The portions were small, only enough to fill them, but not enough to leave them with a rounded belly.

Sakura felt her vision wander sometime after she finished her meal. Her eyes settled over a piece of furniture with photos on top of it.

A particular one caught her interest, one that seemed to be missing something, as if a part of it had been… "Excuse me Tsunami-san, but, why is that picture ripped?" she pointed at it.

The atmosphere of comfortable silence changed into an awkward, and Sakura found herself regretting asking the question.

Inari slid his chair back and stood up, quickly storming up the stairs. Tazuna lowered his head and gripped the edge of the table while Tsunami covered her mouth and tried not to let tears fall.

Tazuna spoke lowly but clearly, and nobody missed a word, "The part that was taken off had the hero of the country in it"

Sensing, rather than seeing the questioning looks on the faces of the shinobi present he looked up, as if remembering something. "He was an important person all over the island"

Inari met him when he was five; some bullies had thrown a puppy Inari owned into the see, to see him cry. He threw himself at the water without thinking about the fact that he didn't know how to swim."

The puppy did know how to swim, it just didn't remember because of the shock; it swam to the beach, dried itself and walked away, it was young and hadn't formed a strong bond with Inari"

Inari watched in despair, he struggled as more and more water entered his mouth. Eventually his forces left him and he almost drowned." At this point the women gasped and the boys grimaced in sympathy

The old man ignored the reactions and continued the story. "He was rescued by Kaiza, a fisherman that happened to be passing by. The man saw bubbles coming to the surface and threw himself to the water.

"Kaiza set up a fire and lay the, at the time, unconscious Inari near it, so the boy could dry, he also used it to cook some fishes he had managed to catch.

"When Inari came to, he saw the man giving him a smile and offering him an impaled fish. They talked for the most part of the afternoon, until Inari came home, dragging Kaiza behind him.

"We invited him to come inside, have dinner with us; before we realized it he had settled himself as a permanent resident, and married Tsunami." Said woman was now silently sobbing, yet Tazuna paid her no mind and stared at nothing,

"He taught Inari his philosophy: To protect everything precious to him, no matter the cost, he also taught the boy to hunt and to fish, so he could provide to his family when Kaiza retired.

"Kaiza was started to be called the Hero of Wave when he saved the village nearby from a flood: The wood dam that kept the water from the town had become undone during a hurricane.

"Nobody wanted risk their lives, so they called Kaiza, who was one of the strongest people at the time.

"Kaiza rushed to the place of the dam and threw himself to the overflowing river. He fought the current, grabbed the cable that secured the door and secured it again, saving the villagers from drowning.

"From that day forward he could be seen helping people out and teaching children at plazas. The citizens adored him, welcomed him wherever he went.

"It all went to hell when Gato came. He promised us prosperity, progress and most of all, a place on the map.

"Yet the only thing he did was buy property, he put taxes over everything he owned: stores, houses, hotels, teashops, even the ports were overtaken and bankrupted.

"Few people had hoped that Gato would ever leave; they had given him way too much of a handhold for him to even consider abandoning his operations here.

"Kaiza was the leader of that small faction, the spokesperson of the people, and because of that he was on Gato's blacklist immediately.

"He put up more and more restrictions, hoping for a way to bring Kaiza down. He eventually managed.

"Kaiza had trespassed into a warehouse owned by Gato, to get some supplies to prepare the next meal. He was caught as soon as he entered.

"The very next day, he had Kaiza tied up to a pole on the main plaza.

"Gato went on and on of how Kaiza was a criminal that deserved to be killed. Inari was on first line, he was crying as he saw his 'father' get tortured.

"Yet Kaiza was smiling throughout it all, happy that he was passing away trying to help those close to him,

"The midget had his thugs cut Kaiza's arms of. Since he was no longer supported by the pole, his head fell to a position where it would be easy to cut his head off.

"Gato watched as most of the population cried for their friend, their Hero. Two minutes after his arms were cut off Gato had his thugs decapitate Kaiza. The goddamn midget left the corpse there for a week. Everyone had their spirits shattered by that; not a single inhabitant wasn't broken by the time Kaiza was taken off the plaza.

"I started the bridge in hopes of getting the spirits of the people back. That's why I can't die until it is finished; to honor the memory of my son"

The women were all crying openly, their eyes were turning red already.

Kiba was holding his head and shaking it, muttering about how bad could the world get.

Shino and Sasuke were as downcast as they could get; their eyes were fixed on the table, and Sasuke could be seen scowling.

Naruto was gritting his teeth and griping the table with all his strength. His face was set into an almost pure look of loathing.

He raised his head, shadows obscuring everything but his eyes. He looked at the bridge builder directly in the eyes and made a statement that surprised everyone, "Don't worry about Gato from now on, by the time we leave the fucker will be dead" His eyes were glowing with barely restrained anger.

Everyone shivered at the look, but Naruto paid them no mind. He stood up and went towards the door.

He paused after opening the door. "Don't wait for me to come back, I'm going to gather information" he told everyone over his shoulder, before slamming the door close.

Everyone looked bewildered at the door, no one, not even his team had seen that part of Naruto.

"Wh-what just happened?" Tazuna's voice broke the silence.

"I-I sincerely don't know," Kurenai answered, her own questions roaming her head, "He has never acted like that, maybe Kakashi or Yuugao have some answers, but she isn't here and he won't wake up yet"

The rest of the night was spent in silence.

* * *

*Hideout*one hour later*

Naruto had followed several similar smells, and they led to one of two buildings: One at the other end of the island and another hidden in the woods.

He was hiding in the foliage that surrounded a small building; He had seen Gato enter, followed by to samurai-wannabes.

Half an hour after he had entered he saw the midget exit and cradling his hand, the two thugs massaging their throats.

He narrowed his eyes, whatever was in there was dangerous, and hopefully able to change its mind and choose a different allegiance.

He carefully made his way inside, using a vent on the roof to infiltrate without making any noise.

He used his chakra to stick to the side of a drop on the ventilation system and moved to where he could hear voices.

He stopped above the vent that on the roof of what looked like a bedroom.

"You didn't have to do that, Haku" A gruff voice sounded from bellow, he strained his ear to hear better.

"I know, Zabuza-sama, but I couldn't let that scum sully you" Haku, he assumed, answered. Zabuza was alive, and he had to report this.

"I still don't see why we can't just steal his money and go back to Mizu no Kuni" a third voice, this time masculine, but not really as mature as Zabuza's

"We may be missin-nin Hagane, but we still have some honor" He was alarmed now, Zabuza and two unknowns to fight in the future, damn.

"In any case, Zabuza-sama," Haku continued, "You should be able for combat in two weeks, but knowing you, you'll be moving by Thursday next week"

He didn't hear anything after that, he was already turning around, five minutes later, he was making his way back to Tazuna's house.

He paused momentarily, and made a decision. He bit his thumb, made some hand-seals and announced, "Ninpo: chisio bunshin no jutsu" The wound on his finger started to squirt out of it, pooling a meter in front of him. His chakra started going into the blood, molding it into a human shape. Features started appearing: first skin, then the face, followed by hair and clothes.

Naruto barely had time to annalize his creation before falling unconscious.

Kurama snorted from within his mind, _**'Gaki should know better than casting that technique without someone**_ **_watching_**_' _he told Kushina.

The red-head sighed, '_At least the clone is still awake, it will keep_ watch' Kurama only snorted and laid down, growing so the woman could lay down herself.

* * *

**Chapter complete, and an easy one at that.**

**The chapter pretty much stuck itself on the front of my mind al throughout the weekend, most of it was a spur of the moment, it just felt... natural is a good way to put it.  
**

**Something that strikes me is that on almost every fanfic Kaiza isn't mentioned, and if he is it's just during a flashback Inari has, and it always let me kind of disappointed that there's no background on the fanmade mission other than Gato took over the country. **

**What happened to the WHY of why help Inari? most fanfics just have him change after Naruto blows up on him on the dinner scene.  
**

**Here we have we see Naruto deciding to take Gato's downfall on his own hands, even if I plan on something different.  
**

**Next chapter will be the two most seen scenes of the arc, the meeting with Haku and THE dinner.  
**

**The poll will be up until new year, the current leaders ar as follows:  
**

**Fuu in first  
**

**Shizuka in second  
**

**Temari, Karin and Haku on third.  
**

**All for the day, wait for the next update.  
**

**Ja né  
**


	14. Island training

**I am not the owner, just a leecher.**

* * *

**Island training**

*Tazuna's*Nami no Kuni*10 AM*

Kakashi had woken up half an hour earlier, still groggy from his exhaustion. Something had bothered him ever since he had awoken, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out.

He glanced around the room; the kids were still sleeping, but… '_Where's Naruto?_' The boy had been a cause of confusion for him; he was divided on how he should treat the red-headed boy.

He knew who the boy was, how could he not? He spent as much time in his sensei's home after the war as he did in the ANBU headquarters, he had been there when Kushina-sama had announced she was pregnant. But every time he looked at him, he was reminded of what he had lost THAT night; the night of the Kyuubi attack he had lost whatever remained of his 'family.'

Without Minato-sensei and Kushina-sama he drowned himself in his work, taking more and more missions, until he was ordered by the Hokage to watch over little Naruto. He hadn't seen the kid after his eight birthday.

His life in ANBU still haunted him: the corpses, the kills, every time he had gone after a… bounty. It clicked right then: Zabuza wasn't taken by hunter-nins, they hadn't destroyed the body.

"Sasuke!" He called to the boy, "Sasuke, wake up now!" The teen groggily complied, sitting up with a scowl on his face, in any other situation he might have found it funny. "Sasuke, wake everyone and tell them to gather here, NOW!"

On any other occasion the Uchiha might have discussed, but since his teacher was using a tone that he had rarely seen… He would prefer not to be punished.

* * *

*Forest*9:30*

Naruto sat up from where he had fallen the night before. The blood clone had gone hunting sometime during the night and was skinning through whatever it was it had caught.

He stood slowly, doing his best to ignore his mother ranting about how reckless it was to do the chisio bunshin alone and Kurama laughing in the background.

The clone looked up from his job and towards his creator. He was amused really; the boss had made a note to not do another of his class was without someone nearby.

"What do have there?" the original Naruto asked his clone, who went back to his job.

"Two boars and some rabbits, though one of them was white; I think it was grown in a cage" the clone, called CN from now on, answered.

Naruto searched his arms for his supply-seal, and took a bottle of pills from it, "when you are done with that, take two, they should keep you…" Naruto searched for words, "knocked, when I seal you, so you don't go insane" CN nodded and accepted the bottle.

The pills were a creation of his: during an experiment of what happened to sealed object when inside a seal he had made a shadow clone and sealed it in a scroll, before dispelling it when it was still inside it; the clone had gone nuts after ten minutes. The pills worked by causing the brain to shut down the sensory organs, keeping the drinker in a small coma until the counter pills were administered. It had taken him a full three years to develop them right,

It took twenty minutes for the clone to finish skinning the game with Naruto's help. CN gulped down the two pills and threw the bottle back to the original, who caught them and re-sealed them.

He moved behind CN as he fell back, making sure that his head fell in one of the seals on his arm, one that had less things, and sealed the clone until it was needed.

Naruto sealed the meat on a separate scroll and started running towards the house, he had to tell everyone.

* * *

*Bedroom*ten minutes later*

The gennin were seated around Kakashi, while Kurenai was leaning against the doorframe.

The Cyclops looked around; everyone was watching, and Naruto had yet to come back, "The reason I called you," he began speaking, "Is because of something I realized not much earlier," he sighed, "What can any of you tell me about hunters?"

Everyone looked down; trying to remember what was said in the academy. Sakura was the first to answer, "They are a special branch of the ANBU that deals with missing ninjas" a motion from her sensei prompted her to continue, "they track fugitives and kill them when they find their target."

Kakashi nodded, "what about the weapon the one that came for Zabuza used?" no one answered, "They were senbon, long needles used by iryo-nin for acupuncture," he noted that Kurenai's eyes had widened, "the reason few people use them for combat is that, while there are many nerves that can cause death, all are incredibly hard to hit from a distance" he paused for a second and looked at every gennin in the eyes, "the reason I am telling you this is because…"

He was interrupted by Naruto, who chose that moment to crash through the window, "Zabuza is alive and he has two prtners"

Silence was what followed his proclamation, so he explained further, "Yesterday I went scooping for information after I left the house," Kurenai and Kakashi nodded, seeing where this would probably lead, "I followed three scents into the forest, to a small hideout near a hill, Gato entered, followed by two wannabe samurais, and later left holding his hand.

"I entered the building through the ventilation system and listened in a conversation, Zabuza was alive, a girl and a boy, older than me by a couple of years, were discussing how to proceed, the girl was telling Zabuza that he would probably be at his top by next Tuesday "

Kakashi looked proud that a gennin could sneak around the enemy lines, "I am surprised that they didn't discover you, but considering the number of times you managed to infiltrate and prank the clan compounds and ANBU HQ it doesn't come as much of a shock" judging by the faces of the brats, it did come as a shock for them. He clapped his hands, "Alright, acting upon the information Naruto brought, we will start training as soon as Kurenai says."

Said woman raised an eyebrow, "Kakashi, you won't use this as an excuse to stay in bed and read your smut"

She was fixing him with THE glare, damn, "ma, ma, of course not, I'll help you as soon as I can stand up" he sighed when her glare was lifted, a shuriken dodged there.

Naruto's voice made him look at the other end of the room, "Ano, Kakashi-san, do you have some of this paper?" the boy was holding four paper squares that didn't look as much, he knew better though.

"Yes, I always carry a pair with me; I use them as bookmarks" he patted one of his breast pockets, "why?"

Kurenai answered this, "I was about to test my students in what their affinities were, and since I'm in charge of your squad until you can fight I was going to test them too"

The gray-haired man nodded and moved his hand to his pocket, opened his book and took three slips of paper, "Here you go," he handed them to Naruto, "piece of advice for you, little miss Hyuuga: don't be disappointed if you get no results, almost no one of your clan does."

Kurenai cleared her throat, "alright kids, follow me. Everything we've talked about will be clear when we get to a clearing, wait for me downstairs." The children nodded and left the room, leaving the two adults alone, "Get well fast Kakashi, we can't afford anything but one hundred percent."

The bed-ridden man nodded, "I know, I should be up and about tomorrow, and in fighting condition by Friday". He laid down again, "have them complete the water walking before you start them on elemental affinities, it will help them if they can't complete the first level"

The woman nodded and left the room, leaving Kakashi alone.

Tsunami would later on walk in on him reading his 'special' book, and would use a cooking pan to knock him out again.

* * *

*Clearing* Half an hour later*

Kurenai stood in front of an eager group, well, some were eager; Sakura was staring at Sasuke and Naruto was spacing off.

She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Since we know that Zabuza is still alive, we will be training every day until he attacks," the gennin nodded, though Naruto was still not paying full attention, "There isn't much to teach you right now, so I will show you something EVERY ninja should know" she nodded towards the lake they were standing by, "The water walking exercise"

At their incredulous faces she demonstrated, walking to the middle of the lake "It is the same and different from the tree walking because water is in constant change, so the chakra output needed for the platform you need to create is always different"

She looked around for questions, only to find herself confused when Naruto nodded at nothing before walking up to her, on the water, "Kurenai-sensei, I already know this, do you think you could give me something more… advanced" he scratched the back of his head in nervousness.

Kurenai looked at him, shock obvious on her face, and judging by the faces the kids were pulling, they were surprised too, "How do you know this? I'm pretty sure I haven't teached this to any of you" she told him in disbelief.

Naruto looked even more nervous, and his answer was whispered, "THE seal leaks IT'S chakra into me after purifying it," he pointed at the spiral on his stomach, "I wouldn't be surprised if I got more chakra than Jiji, I had to learn to control it before the academy 'ttebayo"

She nodded, the Hokage probably knew this. She made a seal she was sure the boy would recognize, and a clone appeared by her side, leaving her slightly winded.

The clone nodded at her creator, "follow me, Naruto-kun, I know something you'll probably find the use for" the clone left, followed by the red-head, leaving gaping gennin behind.

No one noted the angry scowl on the Uchiha's face.

* * *

*Fifty meter from lake*

Naruto was waiting for his sensei to explain the exercise and then dispel so he could try and figure the second part of the reasengan while his clones worked on the control exercise that was about to be explained.

Kurenai looked to the sky in an effort to get the explanation right inside her head, so her student could get after the first time; he was smart, but only so much higher than average, his wit only came out under pressure.

The raven-haired woman nodded, the exercise would be perfect for someone like Naruto; a chakra juggernaut, "Alright Naruto, what I want you to do is called chakura no pointorirīsu, a release of chakra from a single, or a group, of tenketsu." Naruto tilted his head, that wasn't much useful, was it? "Most jonin learn this when, and if, they enter ANBU, the only reason I learned it was because of my specialty on genjutsu,"

Huh, so it was either hard, unpractical, required higher reserves or both. Kurenai continued as I reading his thoughts, "The reason it's so unused is because of its impracticality on the field and its price as time goes on." So he could use it as much as the kage bunshin then,

"I works by sending a… beam, of chakra through a tenketsu, and them lowering and getting the output of chakra higher. The more practice you have with it, the more tenketsu you can send 'beams' from: if you manage to get your output and nuber of tenketsu high enough, in theory you could stop your momentum or change its direction, giving you a way to dodge mid-air"

That was so useful! Why the hell didn't more jonin learn this? Once again anticipating his words she talked before he could, "the reason only ANBU learn it is because unless you have a wind affinity, iryo-nin control or way too much chakra, you can't really use it in the field, and that's not taking into account the burns using chakra in such a way could cause"

Naruto 's mouth formed an 'O' at that, he had forgotten about chakra burns, the last time he had suffered from one of them was when Kurenai had started them on the weapon balancing, almost three months ago.

"So…" he began, "the only reason you are teaching me this is because the healing factor Kyuubi gives me, plus my HUGE reserves and wind affinity?"

The Genjutsu Mistress nodded, "yes, you are probably the only person I can think off that can make use of this" she gave a small smile when the boy grinned at her praise, "start with places you don't have seals on, I don't think they would react well to the influx"

She watched as the boy took of his coat and shirt, leaving him with only his pants on; his arms were full of tattoos up the elbow. When she saw his back she gasped; six line were marked on it, running parallel on groups of three, they looked almost like, '_claws, anima claws_' she realized, yet another thing to tell the Hokage.

"Ne, sensei," Naruto's brought her out of her musings, "how do I know if I'm doing it right?"

She smiled, he had noticed she didn't give that bit of info, "release as much as you can and then make the quantity smaller until you can no longer diminish it"

She saw him nod before sitting down. He put his hands on a ram sign and started leaking chakra.

The result was… unexpected, to say the least; his chest felt as if something was pushing it. He had to put his hand behind him so he didn't hit head, but just as he did the stream cut off, leaving him panting.

"That," he said, "didn't go well" not only had he underestimated his reserves, there was a blister on his chest, and it was big.

Kurenai only smiled, "don't worry, Naruto-kun," she told him, "I'm sure you'll figure it out" She was sure, he had managed harder things.

The rest of the day he spent burning himself on different places.

* * *

*Dinner time*Tasuna's house*

A group of soaking gennin found a red-skinned Naruto helping Tsunami on the kitchen. He had offered to help the woman with the food when he arrived because she didn't have much to prepare, so he had given her some steaks from the boar his clone had caught.

His torso was uncovered, showing his toned back to the teens as they entered and making Inner-Hinata drool.

His full concentration was in front of him: he had found a herb that when prepared right would make the rice taste incredible, but would make it uneatable if made wrong.

So immersed into his recipe he was that he didn't notice when his teammates and team seven entered, he only noticed them after the rice was done cooking, so he was surprised when he saw five wet teens inside the living room.

The surprise didn't last much though, after only a few seconds of staring he started to laugh like a madman.

Sasuke scowled at the laughing red-head, though whatever he was going to say was put in harsher words by a wet-and-moody Inuzuka, "What the hell are you laughing at, reddie?"

Normally the slight at his hair would have made him angry, but coming from the wet dog-boy, Nah. "It's-it's," he managed to say in-between laughs, "I didn't realize it would be this funny to see another gennin trying to water-walk," his composure only stayed for a few second before he was reduced to another fit of giggles.

The members of team seven growled at the purple-eyed boy while he tried to get his laughing under control, Shino too, was 'staring' angrily at the boy; his laughs were reminding him of one of his last failures at the exercise, a bug a had crossed him and his concentration wavered while he was thinking on how to add said insect to his hive at home.

The only dry ones were Kurenai and Hinata, who were only wet around the ankles, they had probably lost control a couple of times before getting it back.

Kakashi had descended from the stairs and the sound of laughing, and he started cackling as soon as he saw his team.

Naruto and the man stayed like that for a while, and only stopped once Tsunami had told them that dinner was ready.

Much like the day before, the meal was a silent affair, once again with the only noises being the scraping against plates, but something change this time: Inari was particularly broody.

The boy suddenly put his chopstick down, "Why do you even try?" his whisper made everyone's attention go to him. His head snapped up, "WHY DO YOU TRY TO GO AGAINST GATO? YOU ARE JUST GOING TO DIE" he pointed to Naruto, "and you are going to be the first to go, so carefree," he didn't notice the room got colder, "I bet you don't even know what it is to suffer"

That made it. Faster than the teens could follow Naruto had jumped over the table, grabbed Inari and was now holding him by the shirt against the wall. The room was freezing now, and not a single trace of KI was present.

"You think you have it hard" his whisper was loud enough to be heard by everyone, even if not intended, "try dealing through the fucking HELL I live in a daily basis, every adult, save the few smart ones, treat me like the plague, I was alone most of my childhood, shunned, starved. Do you know what the worst part is?" everyone but Inari shook their heads , "That when I did found someone who cared for me, they were inside a seal so complex I can't even think about how to break it," the kid's eyes strayed towards the tattoo on his stomach, "I have to see them as they seat around, trying to find a way of braking free without killing someone on the process, and even if they don't show it, I can tell that they hate being like that"

Silence fell for some seconds after that, but Naruto ignored it and continued after taking a breath, "Do hate Gato? THEN USE YOUR TWO DAMN ARMS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DON'T JUST SIT IN YOUR ROOM AND BROOD" The hand griping the shirt let it go, making Inari fall.

Once again Naruto made his way to the door, "I'm going to train, don't wait for me, I won't be back until midday tomorrow," he said without glancing back.

Unknowingly he had sparked Inari's memory, and he heard a whisper on the back of his mind, _'i__f something is truly important to you… even it's heart-breaking, even if it's sorrowful… you keep on trying and trying, even if you lose your life, you keep on protecting it with these two arms! …Then, even if you die, you leave behind the proof that you are a man… forever…'_ he would do a lot of thinking that night.

* * *

**I am particularly proud of how this chapter came along,, I honestly expected to barely reach the 2,000 words, yet I couldn't stop until my 'done' alarm sounded, leaving me to end it there.**

**I'm sure most of you will be wondering why the hell did I make a blood clone, and the answer will be revealed in or around the battle of the bridge as it was planned.  
**

**Update on the poll  
**

**1st Fuu and Karin  
**

**2nd Shizuka  
**

**3rd Haku and Temari  
**

**Whatever happened to the Shizuka/Naruto supporters out there, I honestly expected her to be the first by a large edge.**

**On the updates: around next week onwards and those general dates of every moth my school starts with projects so they can grade the sucject, So unless I start them now (not likely since they haven't explained but two out of eight projects) the updates will be slower around those days, at least until december or on the easter break, or on the summer.  
**

**That's all for today, wait for the next chapter.  
**

**Translation  
**

**chakura no pointorirīsu=chakra point release  
**


	15. Mentality

**I don't own Naruto**

* * *

**Mentality.**

*Inari's room*Midnight*

Young Inari was looking out to the sea , the harsh words Naruto had said had struck deep within him, and he had started to think of his attitude on the past year.

He didn't notice when someone entered his room, bu he did notice Kakashi sitting down next to him, "Nice night isn't it," The boy didn't answer, making the white-haired honin sigh, "He didn't mean anything by what he said you know," no response, "What he told you, he probably said to himself countless times. He WAS ignored by everyone, and ocasionally beaten," those were some of the nights he didn't have watch over the then-red-blond, "I was there when he made his promise to get strong and respected, and watched him train to the brink of exhaustion, and then some, since he was eight. He sees himself in you, you know, he used to have the same look do back when he was five" the man stayed silent for som time, getting up thirty minutes later, "Think about what both he and I said, it IS important to get strong enough to change what you can"

The boy stayed gazing at the moon well into the next day, sobbing every once in a while.

*Middle of the forest*Same time*

Naruto had realesed and awoken the blood clone he had made the day prior, and now the two of them were fighting as if their lives depended on it, or, at least the clone was.

He had been awalened from the sleep the boss had put him in, thinking that the plan was set into motion, only to block a hand coated in wind chakra, and subsecuently try and subdue the enraged male before him.

He ducked under a slash at his neck, sometime during the night his crator had started using his bloodline, and he had had to deactivate his seals in order to keep up with the rage-driven stabs, slashes and cuts.

Naruto overextended one of his slashes, leaving him open for CN to throw him into a tree and knocking him out. He looked at his body: he had three rather deep wounds and was now beading from them.

With a sigh he grabbed a kunai and cut the prone body of his creator, channeling some of his chakra to absorb the blood and heal himself.

That done, he unsealed the pills, took two, resealed them, took the pills and resealed himself just as he was falling unconscious.

*Meters away from the place the fight started*Next morning*

If one stumbled by chance into the part of the woods that Naruto was in, they would see collapsed and cut trees, apart from the brutalized herbs and bushes.

This was the scene a young, dark-haired, brown-eyed, fair-skinned lady found on her wanderings for medicine. And at the middle of the disaster was a red-headed boy she recognized. '_It's one of the Konoha-nin_' The lady approached the sleeping boy, '_It would be so easy, rid Zabuza-sama of some opposition_' she was standing over him, her hand inches from his throat, '_but he looks so peaceful'_ her hand went to his shoulder, "You should wake up, you could catch a cold" and she shook him.

Naruto was NOT a morning person: throughout his young life, 15 clocks, 8 alarms and a kitchen timer were all proof to that. Now, where am I going with this? When Naruto was forced to wake up he would normally try and smash whatever was offending, so when the lady shook him she had to dodge a hand that almost slapped her.

Naruto opened his eye when instead of something hard, his hand landed on something round and soft, what he saw made him have a nosebleed: his hand was on the breast of a pretty girl that was both blushing in embarrassment and scowling in anger. He was thrown back towards a tree when a hand met his cheek, courtesy of the girl he had, unintentionally, groped.

He groaned as he hit the ground, just one other reason to hate mornings. He sat up, "gomen, miss, it was reflex," he told the angry lady that was now holding her chest, as if expecting him to grope her again.

Her eyes narrowed, "So you make a habit of groping women when you wake up?" Oh yes, righteous female fury, he could see she was readying another slap.

He shook his head as fast as he could; he knew from experience how harmful angry women could be, his mother was proof enough, "No, no, it's just that I hate being woken up, and even more when it's a person," his eyes widened at his words, "not that I would harm you just because you woke me up, I mean, I could never harm someone as beautiful as you," once again his mouth spoke without his mind thinking, "I-I, I'll just shut up now" he sighed

The woman giggled, he was different outside of battle, "don't worry about it, just don't do it again, okay?"

Her voice may have been sweet, but he knew a threat when he heard one, so he nodded, "So, um, what's your name?"

"Haku, Yuki Haku" Haku answered.

He showed his fix-grin and extended his hand, "Uzumaki Naruto, Prankster King, unpredictable ninja extraordinaire and all 'round nice guy at your service dattebayo"

Haku giggled behind her hand, amused by his introduction, but then she hummed, "So you are a ninja then?" he nodded at her question, "Then you must be strong, no?"

He chuckled and scratched his neck with a sheepish grin, "well, I may be strong, but I have to train and get even stronger"

"Why do you need to get stronger?" she asked, and then asked a, seemingly, unrelated question, "Do you have anyone precious to you?"

He thought it over: he had Iruka-nii, Ayame-chan, Teuchi-oji, Hokage-jiji, his Kaa-chan, Kurama, his team, his sensei, Megumi, Konohamaru, Moegi. He nodded, he had a lot of precious people, "yes, I have many, though most of them are back home"

Haku smiled wistfully, "then, you will get strong" she chuckled at his confused look and tilted head, "I believe, that when something, or someone, precious to you is in danger, or simply is THERE, you will get stronger by trying to protect it, or them. I believe that true strength comes from the bonds we form and from our willingness to risk ourselves to keep those bonds alive"

Naruto thought over Haku's words; they had merit, especially for him, who wanted to stay alive in order to protect his kaa-chan and Kurama. "Yeah, that…that is a good way to live by" his smile was small, compared to his usual big grin, "so Haku, what are you doing here?"

The girl had started picking some herbs while Naruto was thinking, "I'm collecting some plants, to make medicine for my sick uncle"

"Can I help?" Naruto asked.

Haku answered in affirmative, showing him what plants he should look for. They worked in silence, each in their own thoughts. What they didn't know was that they were thinking about the same thing: their eventual confrontation was coming.

An hour later they heard some rustling from the bushes to the right, startling them. Out of the bushes came out a tall teen, taller than Haku, who was a good head taller than Naruto. His eyes were a curious metallic shade of gray, giving the impression of being molten metal. His hair was a copper brown, once again with a curious metallic tint to it.

The newcomer looked at Haku and then at Naruto, an amused and playful spark in his eyes, "Oh my, Haku-chan, what would oji-san said if he saw you with a boy, and younger than you?"

A smile broke out of his face when he saw the bright blushes on their faces, and it grew when Haku spoke, "sh-shut up Hagane-kun."

The teen, Hagane, put up a face of mock-hurt, "Mou, Haku-chan hurts me" he threw himself at her, crocodile tears falling from his eyes, "Haku-chan is mean, she shall get a hug of doom"

The hug of doom turned out to be quite amusing from an outside perspective. Hagane attached himself to Haku's chest, somehow managing to restrict all her movement and putting his face in between her breasts, and Naruto found himself jealous of the older teen.

But of course, he decided that he was quite comfortable where he was when Hagane received kick to the balls.

'_THAT must have hurt_' He got a nod from Kurama.

'_**Yeah, no man should experience that, he has my pity**_' a male shall never hurt another's manhood and should offer ilent support to whatever brother suffered that fate.

'_He deserved, the man is probably a damned hentai!"_ Kushina of course, did not think like that, and believed in the eventual eradication of all open perverts.

Back in the outside, Hagane had managed to stand, clutching his jewels of course.

He let out a pained gasp, followed by various attempts at speaking. After a few moments Hagane got his pain under relative control, and managed to speak, though the pain was palpable on his voice, "O-oji-san wants us back, Haku-chan" another gasp, "something about his medicine."

Haku nodded and turned to Naruto, "Goodbye, Naruto-kun, I await our next meeting" and she did, she waited for the day of the attack.

Naruto responded to the farewell in kind, letting them get to the edge of the bushes to say one more thing, "Oi, Hagane-sempai, Haku-chan" they turned to him. "When you attack with Zabuza, make sure you go all out" that said, he left their vision with a whirlwind, signifying a shunshin.

Hagane turned serious at once, "How did he know that?" he asked Haku in a hard voice

Haku was surprised, both at Hagane and at Naruto, "I-I don't know" she answered, "he-he looked clueless all the time I was here"

Hagane looked at the spot where Naruto had been standing, "then, we may have a big problem," he started walking, "come on Haku-chan, oji-san is waiting," just as he had come, the serious Hagane disappeared.

Naruto had watched the whole thing from a few trees away; '_you do realize that you gave away the surprise_' kushina spoke into his mind

He turned around and started hopping towards the bridge, '_It may not have been the smartest move, I know, but I want to fight with everything I have, not to be underestimated,_' he though back

Kurama snorted, '_**You should have just take them down when you could, but then again, that is not like you, so nothing to do there**_

Kushina spoke after a brief silence, '_You won't be able to spy on them now, and they will go for the kill_'

'_I know, I know_' with that, the link was cut.

* * *

*Next morning*Clearing*

Naruto was half asleep as he made his way to where he had trained the past three days. He had woken up extra early so he could train in something Kurama had thought would work

'_**OI, gaki, wake up, I'm teaching you your first youko technique**_' Naruto straightened, the tiredness leaving him '_**it's a really basic one, but really useful: the **__**kitsune-bi**_

_**You need to be channeling some of my chakra, just enough to sharpen your senses'**_ Naruto started drawing on Kurama's chakra; it was hard to do it without being annoyed.

'_**That's enough, you don't want to wake someone up**_' Kurama cleared his throat and entered the 'teaching mode' '_**The **__**kitsune-bi**__** is themost basic form of fire-manipulation used by kitsune.**_

'_**By channeling some youki into our tails, (your arms or legs, since you don't have any) or your mouth, a blue fire should come out of the expected point.**_

'_**There is a catch though; you can't use it with normal chakra, since it is more diluted than youki.**_

'_**Fox-fire**__** is way hotter than any normal **__**katon **__**you could use, so it's also more dangerous. To produce fox-fire, you need to imagine the flames; the heat, the form, way you want them to come out. Miss any of those, it will be nothing but useless.**_

'_**If you can create a proper stream of **__**kitsune-bi**__** before the time your battle comes, I will tell you how to use jutsu without hand-seals' **_ the fox looked at Kushina, careful not to let Naruto hear, _**'If he can manage THAT before the deadline I'll eat my tail'**_

The woman giggled: knowing her son, he would somehow, by a half-assed idea, he would manage it.

Naruto just created ten clones so they could work on the control exercise Kurenai-sensei had given him: he may have gotten it to the point he could reduce his chakra output by a dime, but that was not enough.

Now, to figure out the kitsune-bi, he had a feeling that something would go wrong if he didn't hurry up, what with Kurama's youki flowing through him, even if it was less than a quarter of a tail.

His felt his hand burn like it never had before, and he sighed; it would be a LONG da

**Sorry for not updating yesterday, but I had to work with some friends on a school proyect that is particulary complicated.**

**Poll update  
**

**Karin is first with 11 votes  
**

**Fuu and Sizuka second with 8 votes  
**

**Temari in third with 7 votes.  
**

**Looks like the red-head is going to win, I was expecting Fuu to stay in the lead, but whatever.  
**

**Next update is going to be on Friday, until then.  
**

**Ja né  
**


	16. The legend begins

**The begining of a legend**

* * *

*Nighttime*Tazuna's house*

By Monday, Naruto didn't manage a proper use of the kitsune-bi; he could manage to make a flame on his hands, but as soon as he tried to extend it or launch it, it would flicker out and only sparks would make it half-way to his target.

The night was tense, everyone was thinking about the battle that would come the next day.

Naruto had managed to slip into Zabuza's hideout once again, but the only thing he had gotten out that day was the clan's name of the two apprentices: Yuki Haku and Kinzoku Hagane. Kakashi had told them that they were part of a now-extinct bloodlines form Kiri, but he couldn't remember what they were.

Everyone lay there, on their beds, waiting for the moment sweet sleep took them. It was a long night.

* * *

*Morning*Next day*

Naruto was the first to wake up. He stayed in his futon for some time, before switching himself with the blood-clone, whe he gave the antidote pills.

CN opened his eyes again, this time, as expected; he had woken up at his own rhythm, waiting for the grogginess to leave. The original had made a plan for today, and his was the most important part of it. The battle of today would save Wave, or they would die trying.

As soon as his brain set itself in a normal way, CN left the house without a single noise.

Thirty minutes later Tazuna made his way through the door, waking the males that were still sleeping. A glance behind him showed that the girls had woken up already.

They had their breakfast, once again a quiet thing, for everyone had the upcoming battle on their minds.

Kakashi spoke when the last of the gennin finished their food, "We don't know what is going to happen when we get out," everyone looked at him, "there are eight of us, two will stay here and protect the house in case it's attacked, we don't need a problem as soon as we manage to get out of the other.

"The other six, including Kurenai and I, will go with the bridge builder and protect him. Shall we be attacked on the way, we could outnumber them two to one, if one of them comes here, then the two that stayed MUST dispose of them as soon as possible"

Everyone nodded. The stakes were high, incredibly so.

Kurenai clapped her hands, "I think Hinata and Kiba should stay, if the names of the unknowns are any indication, short range attacks will be all but useless."

The two nodded, they didn't like it, Kiba even less, but they understood; all their attacks were short ranged, and against a weapon user or a ninjuntsu user, they were impaired.

Kurenai continued, "One of us will have to stay with the client when we are attacked."

Sakura raised her hand, "I-I'll do it sensei" Kurenai looked at her, "If anything, I can stall them long enough for someone to help"

Kakashi nodded, "indeed, you are mostly a support ninja, actually" he paused and looked at Kurenai, "would you mind teaching her some genjutsu?" The woman nodded slowly, "Good, then I just have to pull the string to get her medic training"

Naruto looked at the two jonin, "Do we take prisoners or do we fight to the end?" he had been wondering that ever since his meeting with Haku and Hagane: would he have to kill two friendly people, whom he had made a bond already?

The two jonin looked at each other, before Kakashi spoke "If you want to, you can capture your opponent, but I don't recommend it"

The red-head looked down: he would do everything he could to keep them alive; there was no way he would let two friends die.

* * *

*Unnamed bridge*

The air was heavy with pressure; the thick mist rolling from the sea reduced the visibility some, leaving only a mile of vision.

When they got there, the air tasted of copper: a telltale of blood. Tazuna rushed to the side of a worker that was lying in a pool of blood.

"Koji, Koji what happened?" the old builder asked the prone man.

Koji raised his head, "A…demon…came…nowhere…slaughter…run" as the last word came from his mouth, the man passed out.

They heard a laugh from the opposite side of the bridge. The mist cleared to reveal the Demon of the Mist and his two imposter-companions.

They saw the demos grin from under his bandages, "Looks like the fight will be interesting" his hands settled on the tiger hand-seal, "suiton: mizu bunshin no jutsu" ten clones sprung up from poodles around the bridge. "Look at them, that brat is shaking, he shouldn't even be in the field" the taller of the masked ones, Hagane, gave a mocking huff.

Indeed, the young Uchiha Sasuke was trembling, though a smirk could be seen, "I'm shaking, whit excitement" the young Uchiha ran the distance separating him from the water clones in seconds, cutting the all the clones and leaving them as they began; a poodle.

Zabuza grunted in amusement, "Looks like you got a rival in the speed department, Haku"

Haku nodded, taking out some needles, senbon, "Indeed, Zabuza-sama, allow me to take care of him" the girl rushed at Sasuke with her senbon at the ready, but the raven-haired blocked with a kunai.

"Shino, help Sasuke, that girl has more chakra then him" Naruto whispered to the shade-wearing boy.

As soon he stopped speaking his falcon talon's appeared and he launched himself to Hagane, who met him halfway.

"I'm surprised to see that" Naruto noticed that Hagane's arms appeared bladed, "But that only means that this is going to be fun." Before him he saw the Hinzoku's hands change into knives, "Tetsu no teashi".

Kakashi rushed towards Zabuza, Kurenai staying a few feet behind. "You know," said Kakashi as soon as he clashed blades with Zabuza, "You might have trained your two followers" Hatake ducked under a slash and attempted a stab, "But the two they're fighting are the best gennin of Konoha," he leaned away from the falling zambatou, "The dark one, he is a prodigy, took to everything I gave him in a couple of days, not to say he is an Uchiha" The widening eyes of Zabuza made him chuckle, "and the red-head, back in the ANBU they call him the 'Prank Devil'" a block, "He managed to sneak into the HQ an die the hole inside and uniform a bright pink," Dodge, roll, stab, duck and slash, "He managed to PRANK the Hyuugas in the middle of the day and not even the byakugan of the clan head saw him until he wanted it" jump over a strike at his kneecaps, "He is THE Number 1, Unpredictable, Knuckle-head, Stealth-Master of Konoha" the jonin charged lighting chakra into his kunai, shocking his opponent and allowing him to get a punch at Zabuza's chest.

"And you know the best part" he continued taunting, "he is the LAST of the Uzumaki"

Zabuza drew breath: that was not good, the kid may be a gennin, but if he was raised to the standards of the Whirlpool, Hagane would be hard-pressed to beat him.

* * *

*Sasuke vs. Haku*

The young Uchiha was currently trying to push his opponent to the ground, but the girl was resisting, and even sending him back some.

"You are strong, I'll give you that" Haku spoke from behind the mask, "But I have to advantages that you lack."

The onyx-eyed boy snarled, "What would that be?" he mocked, trying to bait the masked girl into recklessness.

"One would be the fact that we are standing near water" a scoff met that statement, "the second would be that both your hands are occupied, while one of mine is free" she lifted her left hand and started moving through seals.

'_How, on-handed seals should be impossible'_ thought the Last Uchiha, but it wasn't and the proof was right in front of him.

Haku stopped her hand, "Hijutsu: sentatso suisho" a thousand needles raised themselves from the water around them. Sasuke could feel the smugness coming from his opponent as she jumped out of the way. But he would not be beaten so easily, and managed to escape the dome with only a few scratches to his clothing.

He felt the mist get heavier, "you see this," Haku spoke from behind him, "you cannot win this," he looked back but saw nothing, "Never let your guard down" he barely managed to block the senbon that came from his right.

"Come out and face me you coward" he snarled at his rival, and to his surprise, she did.

She launched another volley of needles at him, and he blocked them all but one that lodged itself on his rib, making him gas in pain, but that didn't deter him.

He flipped through hand-seals as he dodged another wave of senbon, "Katon: gokakyu no jutsu" a fireball thrice his size flew from his mouth and headed towards the girl, who managed to leave the target zone unscathed. It would be a long fight.

Haku reached the same conclusion, "I would like you to give up now," she told Sasuke who just scoffed, "Very well, pleas, forgive me for what I'm about to do" her hands blurred, "Hyoton: Makyo hyosho" after a quick her seal-sequence was done.

A dome of ice sprung up around them, and Sasuke was surprised when Haku stepped into it.

* * *

*Naruto vs Hagane

"You know" Hagane spoke in between the clashes the weapons were making, "I never expected you to be this much of a threat when I met you a week ago"

Naruto parried a stab and attempted on of his own, but that too was parried, leaving them in another deadlock, "yeah" Naruto smirked, "You must never underestimate and Uzumaki" His foot came up in a kick aimed at Hagane's kidney. "It might just be the last thing you do"

Hagane launched himself to the left as a clone did a drop kick where he was standing; he clapped "nice, you managed to create a clone without me noticing"

The two Naruto's came at him, attacking in a perfect tandem, when the original kicked high, the clone would kick low, then the two would stab at the same time in different speeds, leaving him to predict who would strike first.

Hagane stopped a kick aimed at his throat and stabbed the offending limb, causing the clone to be dispelled. He jumped back and smirked at the red-head, "well, you shouldn't underestimate me either" he stabbed the air in front him "Tetsusō: Kishin" his hands changed into spears, which launched lots of spearheads at the red-head, who twisted around them, managing to evade most, but still receiving some scratches.

Naruto's hands blurred into motion, before he called a jutsu of his own "suiton: mizu no jindōshiki o toru" from the heavy mist formed spears that launched themselves to the iron ones Hagane had thrown.

When the clash of spears ended, the two rushed towards the other, clashing blades once again. Hagane had not reverted to the short bladed hands, and instead stayed with his arms in the form of spears, giving him range advantage. On the other hand Naruto was more nimble and managed to avoid every swing and pounce, but his kogane no buki only served on close quarters, something he didn't have the chance of getting.

He back-flipped out of Hagane's range, "fuuton: daitopa" he shouted as soon as he stopped, making the older teen stumble as the air-based attack smashed into him.

Naruto used the time it took Hagane to make an air-attack, intent on pierce the older teen whit his claws. Yet Hagane recovered faster than he thought he would, and his eyes widened as he saw that the spears were pointed directly at his chest

* * *

*Tazuna's house*

Hinata and Kiba, with Akamaru, were in the guy's room playing with a deck of cards Naruto had left them (Why he had one they would never know).

"So," Kiba's voice made Hinata look up from her cards, "Naruto is on his way to become a seal-master? I don't believe you" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"W-well, wh-when I asked him, he told me that he could read the stokes of the seal" She frowned at her cards, a pair of twos and a third of fours, "H-he told sensei that seals just came to him"

Kiba was about to retort when a scream was heard from downstairs. They looked at each other before rushing out the door.

Tsunami was cleaning the kitchen when a knock on the door stole her attention. She walked toward the front entrance with calmness that left her as soon as she opened the door.

"Heh, what a beauty" a tanned, scared man leered at her and made to grab her. She did the only thing that came to mind, she screamed.

Almost immediately Inari was in the receiver, looking shocked at the thugs holding his mother. "Hey, Waraji, can I cut the brat?" the taller of the two asked the blue-clad one, who nodded.

Tsunami spoke without thinking, "NO!" two annoyed gazes fell on her, "if you touch him I'll bite my tongue and kill myself"

The short man scoffed, "You're lucky, gaki, your mother saved you" He started dragging Tsunami out the door.

Inari heard Naruto's voice, along with Kaizas, in his head, '_use your two/__damn hands and change it_' He grabbed a knife from the sink and rushed to the thugs, wanting to save his mother.

Only to be swatted aside by and angry samurai-wannabe, "you asked for it, brat" the man made to skewer Inari with his blade.

The boy was lucky however, because as soon as the katana was halfway out of its sheath, a spinning objet collided into the bandit, throwing him, bleeding, into the water.

The short thug watched surprised as his partner fell, but a strike to his back made him collapse. The last thing he saw before his eyes lost their life was a cream-colored jacket.

Inari and Tsunami watched as the two ninja that stayed behind made quick work of the bandits as if they were nothing: they were amazed at how fast they had disposed of the thugs.

Kiba watched as the eyes of the eight-year-old changed from sulking to steely, just before he ran towards the village, "ma-mate INARI!" Tsunami cried as she saw her son leave, but stopped when the wild-boy put his arm on her soulder.

"Hinata" he called, "Stay with her, I'll follow Inari"

He didn't give the girl a chance to answer, because he has started moving and was outright running when he finished.

* * *

*With CN*

CN made his way through the forest, his mission; taking over Gato's manor house.

He would admit that it made an impressive sight; four stories of gothic architecture, marble pillars adorned the porch, high windows and oak doors.

He made a quick overview: three windows were open in the third (fourth, using the American terms) floor, probably bedrooms. There was a side door ajar, probably leading to the laundry. A vent was visible from the roof. Five entrances apart from the front door, one of them probably defended, three probably occupied.

His attention went to the massive oak doors as they opened, and out came Gato with an entourage of bandits, and the midget was talking, "As soon as half of them are dead, we move to the top of the bridge and kill the rest"

Everything got easier for him and harder for the original. A shadow clone formed and popped as soon as Gato disappeared from sight.

He moved stealthily, if there were any guards, they weren't very good.

He jumped and entered the house through one of the open windows: a bedroom.

The inside was just as the outside, expensive, an unnecessary show of money: velour furniture and silk curtains, crafted wood, rare paintings.

He moved through the manor, checking every room for something that might be useful.

It was on the west wing of the second floor that he found what he was looking for: Gato's study, the place he kept all documents in.

The desk, mahogany, had tons of paperwork, piles almost a meter tall and drawers filled to the brim with documents, and saves with money.

He made many kage bunshin and had them sort through everything; they would throw away useless papers while keeping bank statements and property deeds. It would certainly help if he had a couple of safe houses outside the village, should he ever go rouge.

What troubled him was that there were things missing: Tazuna had told them that Gato was a criminal overlord, and the only thing that he had documents of was of drug dealings on different countries.

He let it slide though, right now he had more pressing matters. The furniture would look good on his building.

* * *

*Naruto vs. Hagane*

He couldn't die, not like that, not when he was twelve, not before he got his Kaa-chan out of the seal. He knew that something on his repertoire that could help him survive.

'_When the output is enough, the __chakura no pointuririsu__ can change, and maybe even stop momentum completely_' that's it, he could do that. His whole mind into this chest, his chakra output skyrocketed and his body was thrown back, startling the older teen.

He landed on his butt, and he couldn't help it, he laughed, the laugh of a man that had found salvation after months on the wild. It worked, his half-assed, not battle-tested, totally unorthodox method of dodging worked. He did it again to get out of the way of a falling spear.

"How the hell did do you do that?" Hagane screamed, he had come so close at winning his battle only for victory to be thrown (quite literally) out of his grasp. He was, understandably so, quite pissed.

Naruto grinned after he got back to his feet, "That, my friend, would be telling" he moved into his stance, "And I'm not the kind to do that"

He rushed at Hagane, the older teen had changed his whole forearm to a sword. The two clashed blades, swords versus claws. Naruto grinned again, his palms opened and Hagane felt himself being pushed back by whatever it was the red-head had done.

Hagane stopped a kick to his side, once again unprepared for the push that came after it.

Naruto disengaged and jumped back to make a quick status check: His reserves were down by a quarter by keeping the kogane no buki active and the use of the chakura no pointoririsu. A clone had dispelled and informed him that Gato would come soon, so the battle had to end.

His hands blurred, making the hand-seals for his more devastating water-release technique he knew. He moved, twisted and dodged around the slashes Hagane was throwing at him. The chain was long, and the jutsu costly, but it would damage Hagane enough to leave him out, "Uzumaki hijutsu: uzu no kōhai" the mist around him condensed into arms that started spinning around him.

The uzu no kōhai, or whirlpool devastation, was one of the few high tier his mother had taught him, it needed lots of water an even more chakra to maintain. It used surrounding water, in any form, and made 'tentacles' that started spinning so fast that they joined in one, big whirlpool, that whipped anything in the area around the caster. With the amount of chakra he put into the technique, Hagane was littered with cuts and bruises by the time it ended, but he would live.

He laid the metal-user on the ground as he fell, unable to continue fighting on his own. Naruto himself felt that less than half of his reserves were still usable.

Hagane coughed and looked at Naruto, "Why don't you finish it?" he asked, "Why don't you kill me now that I'm defenseless?"

Naruto smiled tiredly "because I doubt that Haku-chan would like it" his talons disappeared, "besides, I could have done it on the forest a week ago, when your guard was down" He chuckled "I'm just not that kind of person," He stood up and created a shadow clone, "Now, I got to see if my teammates need help".

Hagane watched as the red-head walked towards an ice-dome that had formed some time during the battle, "you ar a weird person, Uzumaki Naruto" he told the clone, who chuckled sheepishly.

* * *

*With Shino*

Naruto walked up to the shade-wearing boy, they were standing outside a dome of what looked like mirrors, and Sasuke was playing a porcupine inside, "What's going on? Why aren't you there?"

The silent boy buzzed in answer, "My insects can't stand the cold, only some of them are still out and sucking chakra of the technique, but they are incredibly weak."

Naruto hummed in thought, before doing what he did best, annoy people, "OI, HAKU-CHAN!" he was pretty sure Shino would hit him for shouting close to him.

He walked so he was standing with his back to Sasuke, "I don't suppose you can let this poor, poor pincushion leave?" he asked while pointing at Sasuke, who scowled at being reminded of his predicament. "No, come on, he can't die yet. Well how about this?" he grabbed a shell-shocked Uchiha and threw him out before Haku could react.

The girl stared at the current scene, she knew Naruto could be eccentric, but this was too much. She finally lost it when he got a bottle out of nowhere and started drinking out of it.

She launched an attack to the red-head, who moved out of the way. From the corner of her eyes she saw that the dark-haired boy from before was trying to melt her mirrors from the outside, and he was partially succeeding.

The ice-user's attention went back to Naruto as the boy sent blades of wind at her; she was shocked when she saw his eyes were now a glaring red.

A flame appeared on Naruto's hand, and the twelve-year-old ran to one of Haku's crystals and started hitting the ice with his fire-covered hands. Coincidentally, He and Sasuke were hitting the same mirror with their attacks, though Naruto's side was melting faster.

Their attacks seized when the screeching of a thousand birds reached their ears, and Naruto had to run after Haku when she ran to the source of the sound with a cry of "Zabuza-sama," catching her just as Kakashi's attack connected with Zabuza's shoulder.

* * *

*Kakashi vs. Zabuza*

Kurenai could only hear the occasional sound of metal against metal and the see the sparks when the massive Kubikiribochou clashed with a kunai.

Around the beginning of the fight, Zabuza had thickened the mist and the visibility was only of a few meters, keeping her from being able to target Zabuza in one of her illusions.

She had retreated and was now standing beside a shaking Sakura and a sweating Tazuna, the later straining himself so he could hear what was going on.

Hatake Kakashi was starting to feel tired of the fighting, with the mist as thick as it was, his sharingan was all but useless, and so was his normal eye, to top that, since the fog was saturated with chakra, using his nose would be impossible unless he called his summons.

His ears twitched, and he dodged a swipe from Zabuza, receiving a gash on his side from being only a bit too slow.

A chuckle sounded from everywhere around him, "What's the matter Kakashi? Am I too much for you to handle?" he leaned out of the way on a slash meant for his front.

He took a scroll from one of his pockets, "not really," his carefree manner seemed to enrage Zabuza as he dodged a particularly viscous strike, "I just needed something I could track you with"

"What?" Was that despair in Zabuza's tone

A smirk could be seen from Kakashi's mask, "Yeah, you see, I let you cut me a sometime back" he opened the scroll and rubbed some blood from his side in it, "so my ningen could use it" he threw the scroll and started going through hand-sings, clapping his hand over the scroll as in hit the ground, "Kuchiyose: doton: tsuiga no jutsu"

Four dogs burst from the ground under Zabuza, biting him on different places and living him vulnerable.

Lightning sparked in Kakashi's right hand, before it engulfed it completely.

Zabuza was disturbed by what he felt, '_it's so concentrated it's visible, that shouldn't be possible_'

Kakashi ran at Zabuza with a shout of "raikiri", intent on impaling the missing-nin through the chest. But the sound of clapping and a loud shout made his concentration slip, so his hand went through Zabuza's right shoulder, leaving both his arms useless.

The mist cleared until the whole bridge was visible, and the dogs holding Zabuza in place disappeared with a puff of smoke. Standing there, with and army of thugs and mercenaries behind him was the bane of Nami: Gato.

The man was smiling a sick, twisted smile; one that talked about a battle won, "Looks like The Demon couldn't handle some brats," the midget scoffed, "Doesn't matter, my friends over here" he motioned to the bandits behind him, "will deal with whatever you left," the army of men cheered.

Zabuza forced his bandages out of his face and snarled at the midget. He looked at the boy sitting over Haku, "Oi, Uzumaki, do you have anything I could use on those seals of yours?" the kid nodded, already knowing where it would lead.

Naruto unsealed a tanto he had bought in case he wasn't able to call the falcon talons, he wasn't very good with it, but it was perfect for what Zabuza was going to do. A clone took the blade to Zabuza, who put it in his mouth and charged at the giant force.

Gato ran back as soon as he saw the swordsman charge, ordering the mercenaries to attack the raging man.

Zabuza slammed blade-first into one of the bandits, tearing the man apart. He ran to the back of the group, disboweling everyone who stood on his way to his target. Some thugs would manage to land some of their attacks, resulting on Zabuza bleeding a lot from his back, but it did nothing to him, he was on the killing zone, the same as when he had killed all those kids back and the Bloody Mist. He had a target, and nothing would get between him and Gato, not even death.

A mirage of an Oni formed behind him, scaring everyone senseless, and freezing Gato where he stood. The Kirigakure no Kijin paid no mind to them at all, not to the cries of agony, not to the whimpers of fear, the area around him had become mute, and nothing but the screams of Gato would bring sound back to him. Zabuza cut the head of the criminal as he begged for mercy, resulting in a shower of blood that was oddly satisfying.

He made his way back to his students; Hagane was being helped up by a clone, while Haku was restrained by the original Naruto. He weakly made a motion to Hagane to come as he himself made way to the crying Yuki.

He collapsed to the floor, he had enough energy left to say some words to his legacy, "Listen you two" he rasped out, "I know I didn't tell you, but both of you are important to me" Haku gasped, Zabuza looked at her, "you were more than tools to me after some years you spent with me, and I don't want you to follow me soon," he rolled to his side and looked at Hagane in the eye, "you better keep her safe, I don't care how you go with it, as long as I don't meet either of you in hell," he fell back to his stomach, "You could follow Uzumaki, I don't care, just stay safe, musuko" with that, his eyes dropped, and Zabuza Momochi, The Kirigakure no Kijin, wielder of Kubikiriboucho, left the world of the living.

The Shadow clone sat Hagane close to Haku and dispelled. The original went to stand by his sensei and squad leader, his talons back into place, Sasuke, Shino and Sakura joined them, the latter two staying a few paces behind.

The mercenaries snapped out of their shock at seeing some punks stand in front of them. They charged as a group, the remaining bandits raising their weapons and shouting to the top of their lungs.

Naruto looked at the incoming wave and then at Kakashi, "Do you think you can do a couple dozen clones?" as he said this his hands moved into his trademark seal.

Hatake nodded, they would have to be water clones, "yes, I think I can give some help" Twenty clones sprung from nearby poodles and about a hundred appeared behind them.

The army stood still at the appearance of more ninja, but charged again.

A bolt struck the leader of the formation on the chest; the last thing he saw was that the villagers had armed themselves.

Kiba and Inari were standing proud in front of the crowd, Akamaru in his human form. This was enough and the bandits turned around and ran.

The Naruto and Kakashi clones attacked the fleeing army, leaving only a handful dozens to get to the boat.

The originals, their squad and their prisoners/tagalongs retreated to the villagers, receiving congratulations, thanks and all around appreciation.

CN appeared form the crowd and gave Tazuna a folder. The man gasped as he saw what was inside: every single deed on the land and the money Gato stole up to the last cent. The clone, its job done, jumped to the water and dispelled, causing Naruto a headache.

It would later be agreed that the Hokage would decide what to do with the willing hostages. Later that week, Sasuke would discover that his sharingan had awakened sometime during his fight with Haku. Hagane and Haku had a small funeral for Zabuza, his sword serving as headstone, the shinobi were all present.

Naruto told his sensei that he would be going to Uzu the day after the funeral, and that he would be back by the time the bridge was about done.

By the time he came back, Naruto looked as if he had learned the greatest truth in history, and would leave everyone wondering what had him like that.

* * *

**Largest chapter yet, 5120 words.**

**Next chapter will probably take a while, since I'm going to be working on a skeleton for my health class during the weekend.  
**

**Karin is still in the lead of te poll with 12 votes. Next is Fuu with 10. Haku and Shizuka are tied with 8 votes..  
**

**Translation  
**

**Testu no teashi=iron dagger  
**

**Tetsuso Kishin=Iton body: demon spears  
**

**mizu no jindōshiki o toru=Water spearheads barrage  
**

**uzu no kōha=Wirhlpool devastation  
**

**Tsuiga=drilling fang  
**


	17. Uzu no Kuni

**Finally a chapter, but kishimoto still owns the series**

* * *

**Uzu no kuni.**

* * *

*Waters of Uzu no Kuni*Noon

Naruto was standing on top of a boat he had rented, looking at the ruins of the country his family came from.

In front of him were the whirlpools that had protected the island until its fall, threatening to suck everything into them as soon as they approached.

His purple eyes watched the island and swirling waters with a steely gaze, the boat rocking with the tide, yet staying anchored in place.

He stepped out of the boat, a knife ready in his hand. He started walking towards the ruined island, the steel never leaving his eyes.

When he got to the whirlpools he cut his palm, letting the blood fall in to the water. The whirlpools contracted some, allowing him to pass between them. When he was a safe distance towards land, the swirling waters widened again, closing everyone from leaving.

If one were to look at the island of Uzu no Kuni from the sky, they would see a forest covering the outer parts of the island, with gray and brown being predominant towards the center and a river crossing the island through the middle.

The part where Naruto had landed was near the mouth of the river, which led, much like in Konoha, to the main village. His ears were twitching every second at the sound of wildlife: boars, deer, wolves, even the occasional rabbit and fox.

As he neared the village he closed his eyes and climbed over one of the few standing walls, waiting until he was at the top to open them.

The sight that greeted him was not pleasant at all: building reduced to nothing more than ruble, pillars leaning to the side, roofs cave in, corpses of Kumo, Kiri and Iwa lying on the outer rings of the city, corpses of his kinsmen near the center, where a Kage tower could be seen, but it too, was semi destroyed, having only the two bottom floors.

Three dozen clones pooped into existence on the ground, each as grim as the original. Without waiting for orders they moved in groups of three, moving through each street. He had charged them with some youki, so they could create more clones should they need to.

He himself walked towards the center of the village, intent on looking through whatever archives remained intact.

In the way there he prayed for the corpses of civilians, as few as they were, so that their spirits could rest in peace.

Many clones popped during his walk, most of them reporting nothing but an open air cemetery on the streets and alleys. There was the occasional that reported a building in good enough condition, mostly stores. Two were surprising, a compound near the south and a library a few blocks away from it.

He looked up as he arrived to the tower, even without three of its floors; it was as high as the Hokage's, if not taller.

The inside was trashed; corpses, swords, kunai, shuriken, battle chains, scythes, even a pair of bladed tonfas. To the side was a door that led to the stairs, to the right another that held the mission hall, towards the back there was an infirmary for those that were injured during a mission and couldn't afford the time to go to the hospital.

The second floor was similar; a door that lead to different lounges, or that's what they looked like to Naruto. At the end of the corridor he was on was a desk, not unlike the one that the Old man had outside his office. Behind it was another set of stairs.

The third floor had one door and an opening to the roof, which was caved in. Some parts of the room he was in had already lost their ceiling, making him take light steps in order to prevent the floor from collapsing.

The red-head grasped the handle of the large door that he thought led towards the Uzukage's office. He winced as pain unlike no other crossed his arm. He felt his chakra being sucked at a fast pace, along with blood, yet every try at moving his hand was useless.

The pain lasted for what seemed like hours, yet only a few minutes had passed. He breathed deeply, and steeling himself, turned the door-handle.

The office looked as it though it was new: The desk and chairs were shining as if recently polished, as was a bookshelf on the right wall. A wide window he hadn't seen from the outside gave him an amazing, if a bit depressing view.

He sat himself behind the desk, enjoying the feeling it brought. He looked at the desk; a notebook, a journal most likely, was sitting there, with a bold kanji for 'Uzukage' on it.

He picked it up; it felt rough against his hand. It was made of leather, and a lock with seals was holding it closed, he recognized them as blood seals.

He bit his thumb, smearing the blood on the cord locking the diary. It fell with a dull thud on the table. He skimmed through the note, pausing every once in a while to read an interesting entry. He stopped on the last entry, about halfway through the journal (one of the seals on the back must have been a replacement seal to keep the paper from running out)

_Journal entry #243, Third Uzukage, Uzumaki Takeshi, November 21__st__, year 650 ARS._

_I fear this is my last entry, the KKI alliance is knocking at our doorstep, and I doubt most of my people will make it out alive._

_My grandchild was sent to my sister in Konoha already, so Hiro and Miyuki can be fully into the battle, I can only hope Mito-chan can calm Kushina when she learns of this._

_I requested reinforcements from Konoha last week, but the reply was… depressing, to say the least. Konoha won't be able to send anyone, since most of their troops are in Amegakure, fighting against Sanshōuo no Hanzō as I write. I fear for the legacy of my country, I can only hope at least one jonin can make it out alive, so he could teach the younger generations._

_Should only civilians, apart from Mito and Kushina, survive, then whoever finds this journal should know that our blood is what makes us an Uzumaki._

_I must go now, the south wall has fallen, and the place for me is in the frontlines, with the rest of my warriors._

Under the entry was a small square, no bigger than his thumb.

'_What does he mean, 'our blood is what makes us an Uzumaki'?_' It felt like he was missing something, but what?

'_Well, Takeshi-jiji was always liked riddles_' in all truth, Kushina was as confused as Naruto, if not more so.

Kurama, on the other hand, snorted, '_**Take that thing with you, if anything it can be used as a history book**_' Kurama had the suspicion that the square was something important, being centuries old did that. '_**Search the office while you're here, find a blood-seal…or**_' that's it, '_**Oi, gaki, that square might be a blood-seal**_'

Kushina nodded, it made sense, considering it was Kurama, a childish, centuries old, creature of mass destruction who said it, '_It's worth a try, socchi_'

He bit his finger at the nail, drawing blood. With great care he put enough blood on his thumb, and mindful of not staining anything but the small black space, pressed it against the page.

Lines and characters spread across the unused part of the notebook, all the way to the back of it, stopping halfway across the last page.

The lines formed pictures and the kanjis and letters full paragraphs, until the back part of it was complete with techniques, katas and seals way too advanced for him to even comprehend.

On the page across the one the square had been, the entry continued.

_If you are reading this, then you looked for a double meaning in my words and found it, congrats._

_This is being written by a blood-clone, the real 'me' is fighting off the KKI, it will buy me time to put everything in the archives here, in this diary, in the hopes that a kinsman finds it and rebuilds the clan to its previous glory._

_Every Uzumaki Hijutsu, Fuinjutsu, Taijutsu, Chakra control exercices, Ninjutsu, even notes on the clan's bloodlines and advanced abilities are explained, detailed and illustrated in here._

_It is my hope that our clan is never forgotten, and that someone, even an enemy, describes us as what we are for the future generations._

_If you are an Uzumaki, and came across by chance, then read this journal and learn about your clan. I've left clues for you to find our secrets, and the might of the Swirling Tides shall live on your hands if you find them._

_This is my will, as a Kage, but above that, it is the Will of the Whirlpool._

'_I'll read on the way to the library, see if I can find whatever secrets it's talking about,'_ it went to one of his pockets.

He checked the office for anything hidden, and finding nothing but an Uzu headband, which he grabbed and tied to his arm, he left the office, intent of searching the library.

* * *

*Uzushogakure's archives*Twenty minutes later*

The library was just like the one in Konoha, only mostly in ruins. Several shelves more than three times his size were toppled over, with rotting books lying on the floor.

The building itself had three floors, the topmost destroyed when the roof caved in. The stairs to the second were blocked by rubble and in a terribly bad condition; stepping on them would probably destroy them.

He picked up whatever books were still readable, mostly fantasy, myths and the occasional history one, and sealed them in one of his pocket scrolls.

He left the building with a sad glace, imagining what it could have looked when the city was at its prime.

* * *

*Clan house*Ten minutes later*

The compound looked like the Hyuuga one from the outside; traditional in looks, with a single floor and a really big yard in the front, apart from a couple of dry ponds strewn about.

He entered the grounds to find overgrown plants, flowers as tall as his knee, with bushes covering most of what he thought the main entrance to the house.

There were some skeletons lying about, wearing headbands with a spiral in different parts of his body; he idly fingered the one he grabbed and his Konoha one on his neck.

He entered the house proper, scratching his sides with thorns from the bushes. The walls on the inside were ridden with cracks from the lack of care, and the few doors that were still standing weren't much better, having rotten and marked with spots from termites.

He moved through the building, stopping from time to time whenever his imagination played an image of what it must have looked, when it had people living in it, caring for their home.

He entered one of the rooms on the better part of the compound, and his mind was assaulted with flashes from whenever he got babysitting as a D-rank; the room was obviously a nursery.

Several toys were lying about, showing obvious signs of age; teddy bears missing their heads, eyes, arms, toy cars with no paint, cribs with missing posts, dolls that wouldn't look out of place in a horror movie.

But what stood out the most was a pile of bones on the far side of the room; what was obviously an adult, holding several smaller skeletons, the fingers trapped in-between ribs. A matron protecting and consoling crying children.

He made clones to dig grave on the outside of the walls, for the Uzu citizens to lay in eternal rest, but he would take care of the matron and the kids here.

* * *

*Three days later*

Naruto was standing in front of a grave, changing his gaze from the tombstone to the sky to the forest and back again.

Every single body with an Uzu headband had been put in a communal grave on the outside of the walls, everyone but the people lying here.

He left the village with a sigh, his expedition had been a success; knowledge, truth, a purpose, all three he had found, and yet, something was missing, something he felt was important. _I've left clues for you to find our secrets__. _He had to find whatever Takeshi was talking about. _And the might of the Swirling Tides shall live on your hands if you find them._

A rabbit jumped over to the grave Naruto was standing near before, as if regarding what was written, before setting off again. Written there, for whoever came back to Uzu, were the following words: _Here lies the last caretaker of the Uzumaki and her charges, she took care of them until her death, so dedicated was she. May she be an example for future mothers, so they shall stand by the side of their children, to the end._

* * *

**This was probably THE hardest chapter I have ever written, between my proyects, everyday work, a minor block and babysitting my brother, It's been a hectic couple of days, I don't really know If I'm going to be able to update on friday, so don't expect anything, except the spannish inquisition, alaways expect that.  
**

**Now, poll:  
**

**Karin is still first with 16 votes and Fuu is three votes behind her, Temari, Haku and Tayuya are tied for third place with nine votes.  
**

**I added Fuka because a friend asked for her, but I don't rally know how it would start, probably something like Moka and Tsukune in rosario+vampire.  
**

**On other news, hallowen is coming to town, and my little brother managed to recruit me into trick-or-treating, I can only hope that he doesn't back out like past years, I seriously want candy, the ones my mom bought are taunting me.  
**

**That should be all for now, just remember, I might not updat until nex monday, so I can go back to having half a chapter ready by the time the next one is posted.  
**


	18. The Great Maelstrom bridge

**The Hero's bridge**

* * *

*Uzu no Kuni*The next day*

_The power of the whirlpool depends entirely on the source of it_ Naruto had been exploring the island for whatever that meant, but nothing came up: When he searched the compound the only thing that he found were collapsed tunnels, ruble and insects he collected for Shino. When he went to the library, he found even more tunnels, even more rotten books, and a registration seal. When he searched the village itself, he found MORE tunnels, ruble, spoiled food, canned food, wild animals and storage seals inside the stores.

He was about to search for whatever in the river that ran through the city, and if that didn't turn up anything, then the jungle would be searched.

Standing by him were four blood clones, he had made them the day after he arrived, and ordered them to help him search. He was standing there, in orange swimming trunks, breathing deep with his eyes closed. A fish swam by, and the five Narutos jumped to the water at the same time.

The current was fast, but not so much as to leave them helpless. Two clones let themselves be dragged, to search down the river. Another two struggled up the river, using water manipulation to help them move. The original stayed in the area, sticking close to the bottom.

He would resurface every five minutes for a mouthful of air, before diving down again. He moved rocks, weeds and euble that had fallen on the river, searching for a tunnel, a seal or whatever it was that hid the 'Might of the Whirling Tides'. Half an hour later, his search was unsuccessful.

A memory from a clone updraft hit him, and he swam as fast as he could, hopefully his search would end soon, he was sure Kurenai-sensei and the rest were worried for him, and he had to get back before a week passed.

* * *

*Blood clone number 3*

BC3 Was swimming around weeds, moving whatever rocks were in his path; he had been doing this for half an hour, without rest, and with almost no progress.

A rock heavier than others was stuck to the wall. He motioned for the other clone to come help him. Between the two of them, the boulder moved bit by bit. BC4 gasped as a bit of what was behind was revealed; the back of the wall was hollow.

BC3 created a shadow clone that dispelled almost as soon as it came. The two pushed the boulder some more, trying to get it to fall into the current. Ten minutes into their struggle, the original came and helped them move it, using liberal amounts of water manipulation.

It would be another five minutes before the rock finally came loose and sank into the river. He motioned for his clones to surface for the last time, "Alright, listen you two," he panted for breath, "Alert the others, then search the rest of the island, I'm going in" With that he dove back into the water, leaving the clones alone.

The tunnel was really dark; the only light was coming from the entrance. He advanced, pushing as must chakra as safely possible to extend the length of his lungful of air.

His hand trailed the walls and floor, trying to keep him from hitting anything that would knock him out. His feet were in constant motion, pushing him forward as fast as possible, for he did not want to run out of air before getting to the end of the cavern.

His lungs started to ache after the sixth minute of swimming, by the seventh, the pain was starting to be distracting, on the eight his lungs started to burn, so he pushed himself harder, the tenth minute came and he was starting to slow down but he pushed. It wouldn't be until the tenth minute that he would yield results; a tiny light shined some distance from where he was. He swam with a renewed vigor, pushing himself to his limits; he couldn't stop, not when he was so close.

He broke through the surface of a small lake inside a cave with an open ceiling. The red-head gulped down air by mouthfuls, getting his pulse to what it was before he jumped.

Once Naruto brought his breathing back to normal, he took a moment to look around the cave; it was really tall, and really wide, easily half a mile across. The sunlight came in through the hole on the ceiling; hopefully he could get out of the cave from there. The most prominent feature though, was a giant scroll in the middle of the bubble.

He approached, and as he did he began to notice things about the scroll; the seals in it were just as complicated as he Hakke no fuin shiki and the shiki fuin on his stomach, not only that, they were connected, the whole thing was just a giant sealing array, no separation in between the parts, nothing that would distinguish when on started and another ended.

He strapped the thing to his back and started to climb his way out of the cave, he would be back in Wave before the next sunset.

* * *

*The next day*Nami's shore*

Naruto did get to Nami before the next sunset, but it was still late in the afternoon by the time he got to Tazuna's home.

The first thing he saw when he entered the humble house was as follows: one Hatake Kakashi holding his family jewels and staring at nothing, an icha Icha book being burned over the stove by an angry Tsunami, Kurenai-sensei with a twitching eyebrow and a tick-mark, Inuzuka Kiba with his head in his hands, a giggling Haku with a snickering Hagane on her lap, an impassive Shino, a blushing Hinata, a sympathetic Tazuna and a confused Inari.

So he did what anyone would have done in his place; he went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, grabbed some food, drank some milk and went upstairs, after all, it was just another day on the life of Uzumaki Naruto.

He went back down in time for dinner, and he was interrogated by his sensei.

"How did it go, Naruto?" Kurenai, even though she knew little would probably happen to him, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be worried for her student.

Naruto looked up from his plate, "good, I learned some names, got a history book, texts, nothing I didn't expect" true, in a way, he had expected to find a couple of scrolls and notes, not how much he found, but still.

Kiba snorted, "Really, you Dobe, picking up a history book? You skipped on those classes"

The red-head in question got a twitch, "I'll have you know that the reason I skipped was because Jiji told me all Iruka-nii said in the academy" Why the hell listen to a textbook when you could hear it from someone who lived through it?

Sakura though, was curious, "What did you learn Naruto?"

He looked at her with a deadpan expression, "That my clan lived in seals," they were EVERYWHERE, "Honestly; there was one seal in every building I visited," he gave a shudder, "Some were nasty, even worse than my prank ones"

Everyone but the civilians and the enemy-turned-friends shuddered; they had all been in the middle of a Naruto Prank, for him to say that something was nastier than his worst prank, it must have been terrifying.

"You said names, what names?" asked Hagane, and Shino nodded

"Well," this would probably shock them into silence, he would keep one of the names for now, "My grandfather was a clan-head, and his father was a Kage"

Indeed, everyone but the civilians, who didn't know anything about the shinobi live, was floored; here, this kid, with no parents, was the heir to a clan, and the grandson of an ANBU commander, one would start to think how fucking strong his mother was, and who was unlucky enough to fall in love with her.

Naruto was oblivious to the thought running through everyone's mind, he was hungry, and Tsunami's cooking was GOOD, not as good as The Ramen of the Ichiraku, but it was still good.

He finished his plate and stood up patting his stomach, "well, I'll turn in for the night, I'm tired" and he went up the stairs.

Maybe it was time for him to start planning another prank; he hadn't pranked anybody in a couple of months. The demented cackle was enough to make Kakashi a whimpering mess.

* * *

*A week later*Unnamed bridge*

The whole village had gathered to see their heroes off. The mood was joyous yet solemn, for the people that had helped them and against all odds came out on top of a tyrant, were leaving for who knows how long.

Leading the crowd was none other than Tazuna and his family, "Super thanks for helping us, We couldn't have done it without you" he would always call for Konoha when the situation called for it, "You and whoever carries your insignia will always be welcome to our country" The crowd roared their approval of the words.

Everyone had different reactions: Kurenai smiled, as did Sakura and Haku Shino and Sasuke stayed silent, Hagne, even though he had been on the wrong side of the conflict, welcomed the praise, Kiba grinned and started making plans to have a party at home, Hinata took some bit of confidence from the thanks, and Kakashi and Naruto moved in tandem, scratched their head at the same time and did their own patented smiles.

"Maa, maa, it really was nothing" they even spoke at the same time, amusing the people behind Tazuna.

Inari approached Naruto, making the red-head focus on him, "I-I don't want you to go, Naruto-nii-chan" he sniffed.

Naruto smiled as he kneeled to be level with the kid, "Don't worry, it's not like I won't come to visit from time to time"

Inari hugged Naruto and started sobbing, "You must think I'm weak"

Naruto just looked at him in the eye and gave his foxy-grin, "It's alright, my sister does the same whenever I go out of the village, you can let it out."

They stayed there for ten minutes before taking off, the faster they got there, the faster the trouble would leave.

"Nee, ojii-chan, what are you gonna name the bridge" Inari asked when the ninja got out of sight.

Tazuna pretended to think before grinning, "how about, 'the Super Tazuna Bridge?'" the people booed at his suggestion, "alright, alright, not that"

"How about, 'The Great Maelstrom Pass'?" Inari suggested

"Yeah, sound good," the Bridge Builder nodded, "from today onwards, this bridge will be called 'The Great Maelstrom Pass,' in honor of the boy who helped our country get back to greatness." This time the villagers shouted their agreement.

*Several miles away*

Tree hopping was one of the fastest way of travel across the ninja nations, mainly because that unless you were moving in large groups, there was nothing blocking the branches, opposite to the ground, where you had to circumnavigate obstacles, find bridges to cross rivers and the general nuisances that made a ninja's life slower.

As a result of that, the trek that had taken team seven four days, would take not more than 24hours, rest included, to the group that was now making their way to Konoha.

The jonins, Haku, Hagane and Naruto had to stop from time to time to let the gennins with less stamina to rest and recover their strength. When the night came, they were only a couple dozen of miles away from Konoha, and the adults decided that they would spend the night outdoors, letting everyone rest and be at their best for when they reported to the Hokage.

* * *

**Wooooooo, I'm back in schedule bitches, and I'll stay like that.**

**This chapter is shorter, mainly because the only thing really important was Naruto comimg back from Uzu and the nameing of the bridge, the scroll was supposed to be in the last one, but it was already above my average and this one was barely scratching the 1100, so, yeah.**

**Expect the usual friday update, it's going to be two big flashbacks, telling HOW the metting between Naruto, Kushina and Kurama went.  
**

**The poll has changed yet again, here are the current positions: Karin 1st with 18 votes, Fuu 2nd with 15 and Shizuka managed to get herself into the leaders wth 11 votes.  
**

**Remember, the pairing poll will be open until New-year, and any hints at relationships wil be only flirting or thought.  
**

**On an unrelated not, I may or may not get a scholarship, wish me luck in that regard.  
**


	19. The meeting

**Explanations**

* * *

*Hokage's office*Noon*

The gennin, Hagane and Haku all stood attentive, even Naruto, who was currently preparing himself for the discussion he knew would come.

Kakashi and Kurenai were oblivious to this; however, because of the report they were currently giving to Sarutobi.

The Hokage just listened, nodding when it was necessary, humming in thought whenever certain decisions were mentioned, and frowning when the two battles were narrated.

The report lasted several hours, in which Haku and Hagane started to shift uncomfortably. The Hokage looked at them, "And what, pray tell, do you want to do now?" he asked.

The serious Hagane appeared as soon as he was addressed, "We, that is Haku and I, would like to join Konoha, with no one knowing about our kekkei genkai" he said with a straight face

"And why, in a village that practically worships bloodlines, would you like to keep that secret?" it all depended on their answer, whether they joined the system or became civilians.

"Naruto told us about that on the way here, he knows that much like him, should the people know about our bloodline, we would have to fight the people against becoming breeding stock" he added something as an afterthought, "It's always nice to have a trump card too"

Hiruzen nodded, yet another thing to talk to his grandson about, "very well," he opened one of his drawers and took two stack of papers, "fill these and bring them to me tomorrow, we'll take your photograph when the files are processed" The two apprentices of the Demon took the forms and fell in line with the rest.

Hiruzen sighed, "All of you, dismissed, Naruto you stay, we have a lot to discuss" Everyone looked at the two of them, but complied.

"Hagane-sempai, Haku-chan, Wait outside, I'll show you to your house" The two looked at Naruto, but the red-head just nodded at them.

When the door finally closed the Hokage looked at Naruto with barely constrained anger, "Explain to me just HOW you knew about something you WEREN'T supposed to know until you were CHUNNIN"

The twelve-year-old gulped, "it was after I turned five, about five months after the matron kicked me out of the orphanage, you know I lived in the streets until Iruka-nii found me?" the aged leader nodded, "well, there were times when I would go days without food and sleep.

* * *

*Flashback*Naruto at age five*

_A scrawny kid was running in between alleys, he had been searching for food everywhere; trashcans, dumps, he had even tried to steal some meat from a store, but the shop owner had found him and kicked him out by force._

_He hadn't slept for weeks, whenever he tried to fall asleep a vagabond should try to steal whatever he had on himself; he couldn't afford to lose his clothes, not when the winter was coming._

_The outside of the village would give him some safety, but only if he stayed close enough. It was risky, the guards could see him and try to do what the matron had wanted to do, but he needed to sleep, his hunger always went away when he had a proper night of sleep._

_He had done it, he had managed to get out of the doors, he was in the forest now, exhaustion was creeping up to him. When had he last eaten? When had he last slept?_

_The kid finally collapsed on a branch he had managed to climb onto. As soon as his head hit the hard, cold wood, unconsciousness claimed him._

_/Mindscape/_

_He came to himself when felt water on his back. He stood up and glanced around; someone had found him and locked him inside a boiler room._

_He leaned against a wall, and his mind was assaulted by flashes of his time in the orphanage. He staggered back holding his head._

_He started moving towards where the little light there was came from, mindful of not touching anything lest he have more flashes._

_He came to a big room with a giant cell, a bed, and a chair. Crouching, he made his way to the cell, where he could hear voices arguing._

"_**If he does come, you have to make him release us**__" The first was male, really powerful and heavy._

"_It would kill him, and you don't know where your other half is__" the second was from a woman, also powerful but caring and gentle at the same time._

_He entered the bars, still without touching anything. "__**He's here**__" the first voice spoke, and he felt himself get grabbed and carried by his waist deeper into the prison._

_He struggled, fought against whatever had grabbed him, but nothing happened, the thing around his waist didn't drop him, "__stop it, you're scaring him__" the woman spoke._

_A grunt was heard, and he was dropped with a splash. A few second after he landed he was engulfed in a hug. He stiffened, thinking it was an attack, but he relaxed when he heard whoever it was sobbing and apologizing. After a moment's hesitation he returned the hug, much to the apparent joy of the woman, if her squeezing was any clue._

_He leaned away from the touch when he heard stomping to his side. He wanted to scream as soon as he saw what it was; there, in all his glory, was the Kyubi no Youko, and it was grinning like a mad-fox._

"_**Well look at what the idiots brought to us**__" the fox laid down on the floor, "__**looks like your wish came true, Kushina**__"_

_The woman, Kushina, nodded in happiness, even if the intention of what the fox said was sarcastic. "__Yes, let me get a good look at you, sochi__" Naruto started shaking. It couldn't be, the few time Hokage-sama had visited the orphanage he said his parents were death, that they had died defending the village from the fox lying a few feet from him. Had it all been a lie, had the old man lied to him, had she just abandoned him._

_He ran away, ignoring the shouts his..Kushina threw at his back. But no matter how much he ran, the only thing that moved were his feet, the wall stayed, the floor move against him, he couldn't get away from the grinning monster and the sobbing woman._

* * *

*Present*

"The seal had been damaged already, every time I hurt myself, even broken bones would heal in fractions of the normal time, it was meant to only accelerat healing, not start regeneration. Kaa-chan and Kyuubi would pull me into my mind, trying to speak to me, but I ignored them until after the second month of hearing them every night."

* * *

*Flashback*

_/Mindscape/_

_Naruto was sitting just outside of the seal area of the boiler room. Every night for a month he would just stay sitting against the wall, listening to the sobbing woman until he woke up, but he just couldn't take it anymore, he wanted TO SLEEP._

_A fire ignited behind his eyes; he would get the truth out of those two, and then he would sleep without coming to the damn room._

_Kushina was sobbing her eyes out on the bed; she just wanted her son to come, just to hug him while she explained everything. A splashing sound made her attention jump to the entrance of the room. She ran to her son._

_Naruto moved around her as she ran, tripped her and pinned her to the ground, "Listen woman, I don't care who you are, but you have answers and you have them" he told her "Where. Are. We?" he snarled._

"_Mind...pe__" she mumbled._

_He increased the pressure on her neck, "speak louder"_

_Red eyes appeared behind the cage, accompanied by a snarling mouth, "__**We are inside your mind," **__Kyuubi spoke, __**"A mindscape is what you ningen call it**__" the snarl turned into a toothy smirk when he saw Naruto holding Kushina down, "__**I believe you already know who I am, and if the lady you are trying to drown, quite ineffectively I might add, could speak, she would introduce herself as Uzumaki Kushina**__" the beast chuckled "__**I admit, you got her temper, pity, I would prefer if you had your fathers level-head instead of her temper, but I suppose your liveliness is enough of a hereditary trait.**__"_

_Questions were running through Naruto's head as he stood up and let Kushina up: if she was his mother, then what was she doing inside his mind? Why was the Kyuubi inside of him? Why the hell didn't he know of them until now? "EXPLAIN"_

_The Kyuubi spoke, ignoring the sobbing Kushina, "__**When I was forced to attack you village by THAT MAN, she" **__one of his tails pointed at the sobbing wreck, "__**The Fourth and your father managed to bring me back to myself, but of course, I had been inside your village for a hundred years, I couldn't just, disappear,"**__ It chuckled a hollow laugh __**"So The Fourth Hokage, in all his idiocy, decided that her son would carry me, just as she did before you were born"**_

_Kushina, who managed to calm herself, continued from there, "__The-the Yondaime sealed myself o I could help you when yue needed it the most , but somehow I ended with fuzzy as a roommate__"_

* * *

*Present time*

"We talked for hours from then onwards, I started visiting the two of them nightly, changing my mindscape a little every day.

"When I turned eight, shortly after you put me into the academy, kaa-chan started training me in everything she could, starting with seals and physical fitness, then she taught me the few ninjutsu she knew.

"Whenever I pass over my limit of youki, the seal tightens itself so I can get used to it, but it has the drawback that I can't have them help me through it" he finished.

Hiruzen, while still angry, nodded in understanding, "So she hears everything you let her, and she, along with the Kyuubi, trains you in what she knows" The young red-head nodded, "I understand why you did it, but if you keep anything else from me, I WILL put you under probation" He told Naruto with the harshest glare he could muster, "Now I believe you told the two outside the door that you'll take them to their new home," Naruto nodded and started to grin, "And where, exactly, are they living,"

The impish grin was all he needed as answer

* * *

*Apartment complex*

"And this," Naruto told the two older teens, "is where we live." They started up the stairs, "Pick any floor, jiji bought me the building," Naruto waved them into the second top-most floor, "This is where we eat, the kitchen is on the other side of that door, and there are stairs leading upstairs and downstairs on each end of the floor, if you need me" they were going to his apartment, "I live on the top floor along with Megumi-chan"

Hagane had just spotted the perfect teasing material. He swung his arm over Naruto grinning like a madman "My dear friend already has a lady for himself, tell me man, Is she pretty?"

On that moment a girl came out of her room, and lit up with a bright smile as soon as she saw the red-head, "ONII-CHAN" she threw herself at the teen, who caught her and spun around, much to her joy.

"I missed you Megumi-chan" the girl snuggled into his neck.

"I missed you too, Onii-chan"

"Did you give the Ichiraku trouble? What about Iruka-nii" The girl just smiled innocently, "Who did you prank?"

Hagane had started sulking as soon as the girl's name was called; the teasing had gone out the window. Haku just patted him in the head, telling him to get over it.

The two 'sibling' though, were oblivious to the older teenagers, "Weeeell, a teacher in the academy went to the hospital after eating a bad sandwich"

Naruto grinned with pride, his sister was following on his footsteps, oh the prank he had planned would come along nicely.

"Regardless of whatever is going through your head, Naruto-kun," Haku's voice brought him out of his devious mind "we would like it if you showed us through the village before it gets dark"

Right, they were new here, "Come along then, we have a lot to show you" with Megumi secure on his back, he exited the building through the window.

* * *

*Hokage Monument*Two hours later*

The group was standing on top of one of the heads carved in the mountain. With the setting sun bathing the village with its light, it made a really beautiful sight. "This is my favorite place" the voice of Naruto brought Haku and Hagane out of their musings, "I like to come here when I'm stressed or to see the results of a prank"

They could understand, the only sounds that got up there were the laughs of children playing close to the tower down below, but only the sounds of nature were really heard from where they were standing.

"We'll see you two tomorrow," Naruto started to leave, Megumi still on his back, "We're going to the Ichiraku's"

When the two of the could no longer be seen from where Haku and Hagane were standing, the girl turned to the awestruck male, "I think, we'll like it here"

Hagane put an arm around her as she started to lean into him, "Yeah, if anything, it'll keep us entertained"

The two of them stayed there well into the night.

* * *

**Here is the first fragment of Naruto's childhood, this next arc is going to be either that or filler chapters. Next chapter is going to be a rather cruel prank, that and really gross. Expect three or four more fillers until I can get to the 'Hero's water' OVA.**

**I would like all of my readers to say a prayer to those that got hit by Sandy, especially those that lost their home.  
**

**On an unrelated note: I WANNA PLAY ASSASSIN'S CREED THREE.  
**

**Now for something completely different: I WANNA PLAY CoD BLACK OPS TWO.  
**

**On a totally different subject: I have an exam tomorrow, wish me luck (weeps at having to wake up early on weekend)  
**

**Right, now onto the pairings:  
The places on the poll are still the same; Karin, Fuu and Shizuka in that order with 19, 17 and 13 votes respectively.  
**

**Kurama is going to be more childish during the flashbacks as time passes, and he gets along with Kushina because of five years of being her roommate.  
**

**Hagane's personality is going to be a mix between Tobi and Madara; a goofball off duty and serious during battle, he is also a bit of a pervert.  
**

**That last two are to prevent questions that would likely come or simply so you don't go 'WTF, happened to them' when they suddenly change their personality.  
**

**That's al for today, wait for the monday update.  
**

**Ja né  
**


	20. The Pranking King

**I still don't own it, so go to hell with any idea that I do**

* * *

**The King of Pranks.**

*Konoha*Two days later*

Today was the day, today would mark the beginning of the reign of Naruto as the King of Pranking. He had done well when he painted the Hokage Monument, but it was only a test of his stealth.

The last two days had been spent planning, preparing and scouting for the targets, the only thing missing was the finishing touches to the paint and itching powders he was going to use.

"Excuse me" a transformed Naruto spoke to the current guard of the Inuzuka kennels, "I was asked to deliver this to Inuzuka Tsume-sama, it's from the Hokage" His form consisted of a messenger ninja wearing goggles, a beige bodysuit, a bag on his back and a hitai-ate with a card etched into it.

The guard analyzed the ninja in front of him; messengers were usually used to send a message to other villages, but it wasn't unheard of that one took a document from a Kage to a clan-head. His nose had caught a familiar smell, one that appeared some times when a gennin squad came to clean the dog kennels, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember who it belonged to.

The Inuzuka hesitantly moved aside and allowed the denrei-nin to pass.

Once Naruto passed the guard he allowed himself to smirk; all was going according to the plan.

He moved towards the dog-houses, careful to remain unseen: it wouldn't do if he was caught before he left.

He put on a pair of gloves as he neared the kennel, the rubber snapping against his 'skin.' He would mix a bit of dog-crap in the itching powder, which was a creation of his own that clung into anything organic: any person that got touched by it would stink and itch anywhere the dust touched, and it would only come of when soaked in citric; any fruit juice would do. He would mix it with the paint, bit that clung to ARTIFICIAL things; clothing, shoes, glasses and he even managed to make it stick to hair.

Putting a pin on his nose and crouching behind the biggest pile of dung, he quickly filled two plastic bags with the thing, minding his head as to remain unseen.

Once finished, his gloves came off and were put in hole he made in the floor; hopefully the droppings would mask the scent of Naruto. The bags were put on his bag, filled to the brim with different seals, mostly scent masking and storage.

His purpose done in the kennels, he went to the vet clinic, the best one in Konoha. He made a clone and had it change into a fox, while he changed into a little boy, no older than seven.

The inside was surprisingly empty, only a girl in her late teens and a man with a large dog by his side. The girl's attention went from the man to him when the door opened, "e-excuse me" he said to the girl, "but, little Akairo is sick" the fox sneezed as Naruto held it out.

The girl, Hana if he remembered what Kiba said about his family in the academy, made a motion for him to wait while she spoke to the other man "Alright, Mōmokuteki-san, give this to the pups," she held some formula out for the guy to take, "every night before they go to sleep, it should help them develop better" The man nodded, thanked her and left the clinic, "Now follow me little guy"

Hana led him to a corridor that led to the different rooms of the building; the x-ray, the pharmacy, the room she was leading him, and the lab, which was his current objective.

Another clone appeared as entered the room she was going to examine 'Akairo' in. it went into the lab as the door to the examination door closed.

Naruto had little time, as soon as he entered he went to the shelves that were lined against the wall; he had to find the pheromone-charged piss of the Inuzuka ninken; they would go in the paint.

His hands and feet were a blur as he moved around the lab trying to find what he was looking for. He turned flasks as fast as he could, the less time he spent inside the compound, the better.

The clone spotted a 'forbidden' sign on a cupboard, jackpot. His plan was complicated, but oh-so rewarding: If he managed to mix the correct pheromones in the correct quantities, he could make it so his victims would suffer a chase by a dog thinking that they were pups that had been kidnapped, or cats attacking them because they smelled of canine. Alpha's scent, no. Beta, no. Bitch in heat, maybe some other time. Newborn dog, of course.

The clone's eyes widened as he felt the door to the other room opened. He jumped out the window just as Inuzuka Hana stepped into the room.

* * *

*Ten minutes later*Civilian hideout*

Naruto was using a chemistry set he had managed to buy to create his special powder and paint. The main problem was that his mixture was unstable when mixing, and the littlest of disturbances could make it blow up on his face.

On the other end of the room was a…thing… spinning around, mixing the dog-shit with the itching powder. It was also sensible, because if mixed wrong, the dust would not stick at all or it would cling to the walls instead.

He grinned as he picked up the finished concoction, now all he needs was a distraction and to plant the trap.

* * *

*Dragon's saloon*

The targets of the prank would be the many stores, stall and buildings that had sacked him when he was younger, one of them being the Dragon's saloon, a restaurant in which many adults and teens, be they dating, in a business meal or just wanting to eat a good meal, went for their rather low prices when compared to other three stars food joints.

Naruto had gone there back when he lived in the streets, hoping that the owner would give him something to eat, only to get thrown out as soon as a waiter saw him. Many others were the same, sacking him almost as soon as he stepped into the establishment.

There were a few stands and stores that allowed him to shop or eat there, but they were few and far between and most of those over charged him for something as simple as a shirt or a pair of underwear.

Naruto climbed into the air-ducts, the fans in place would make sure that the itching powder was distributed evenly between the costumers, and the sprinklers were set to paint everyone a nice shade of shit-brown.

All around the village, if one looked at the roof, a red-headed teen could be seen messing with the sprinkler system of many different stores and restaurants.

All was set, now only the distraction was needed.

* * *

*Hokage monument*

A grinning Naruto was gleefully setting explosive tags on the right of the Yondaime's head: His face would be forever printed in the same mountain his idol and grandfather were carved.

He stopped, smirked, and stood upright on the cliff side when a squad of ANBU appeared. "Uzumaki Naruto, you are to come with us to the Hokage's office in this instant" The apparent leader spoke with a hard tone.

Naruto held his hands out and sighed, but on the inside he was grinning evilly, all was going according to the plan.

* * *

*Hokage tower*

Sarutobi Hiruzen glared and the sheepish teen that was standing, handcuffed in front of him with a pair of ANBU at his sides. "ANBU, Please leave" seeing them about to protest, he added "NOW!"

The two bowed before leaving the office through the window, "hehe, thanks jiji, the two were so frisky, it's not like I was trying to blow up the mountain."

The Hokage bit back a growl that threatened to escape, "then what the hell are the sealing tags you put up while yelling that you would be better than the Fourth?"

Here the sheepish grin turned into an impish one, "A special, something, I made for my pranks" he pointed at the sphere lying on the desk, "see for yourself, they should go off any second now"

Hiruzen scowled but complied. Making a series of hand-seals and muttering under his breath and image of the squad of ANBU that caught Naruto were trying to pull the tags he planted on the cliff-face off of it.

Suddenly, without any warning, one of the tags exploded in the face of one of the operatives, followed by all the others that were standing nearby or touching the tags, leaving them covered in what looked like crap.

"Now change to the Dragon's saloon, the traps should go off in about a minute" Said Naruto with one of his biggest grins in place.

Sighing at what would come knowing his surrogate grandson, he complied. The image changed, this time showing a packed restaurant with people laughing and talking.

Then chaos struck.

The ventilation system started dropping some dust, mush to the confusion of the costumers. The confusion turned into horror when paint rained down as the sprinklers activated without any warning.

Horrified, the clients fled from the building and ran on the streets, "Check the Inuzuka"

The image changed yet again, this time to show that the dogs on the compound started growling and struggling against their restraints. The leashes snapped and the dogs ran free. They charged as one, dividing whenever they reached a main street, and started chasing the people that had exited the buildings.

Whenever the dogs caught up to someone, they would grab the back of their clothes before dragging the off to who knows where to be nurtured by their 'parents'

When the image disappeared Naruto was gone, most of the victims had peed their pants, received a cynophobia inducing trauma, several straight cats were bitten, most dogs were confused and Hiruzen was trying to fight an oncoming headache.

* * *

*Top of the Hokage monument*

Naruto watched the chaos unfold with a smile on his face; all went according to the plan. Next time he would use heat-pheromones, it would make it all the more amusing to see the people that denied him his rights get chase by horny dogs.

Right now though, it was time to make an announcement "Listen up villagers of Konoha," he shouted at the top of his lungs, "This prank was brought to you by your resident Prank King, Uzumaki-Freaging-Naruto, so you better watch what you do and say to the people living here in Konoha, or the justice will bring you humiliation."

He frowned before thinking of something else, "And really, It was SOOO easy to sneak around to get what I needed, next time, make it harder"

With his words ringing inside everybody's head, he jumped down to the lake behind the Hokage mansion; he needed to get his punishment as soon as possible, otherwise it would be harsher than whatever jiji came up with before.

* * *

**This is just an experiment, if I get good feedback I may do another prank.**

**How was hallowen for you guys? I forgot to ask last friday.  
**

**Listen you guys, thank you to the 76 people who have favorited and the 91 that have an alert on it, makes me keep on writting.  
**

**Now, Fuu is catchin up to Karin, only one more vote until they are tied on the first place and only two months until the poll closes, so make sure you vote, that is, those who haven't already.  
**

**On other news, I fell on a sugar high today after school, this A/N was written after it passed.  
**

**That's ot for today. Ja né  
**


	21. Training Day

**Training Day**

*Training ground 11*Morning*Six days later*

The fallout of the prank had been, unexpected, to say the least. When he had arrived back to jiji's office the Old man had told him that he would have to live of what he had saved for a whole week, he had banned him from taking all D-ranks but the catching Tora.

So now here he was, watching the brats try his advanced henge while trying to complete the third step of the rasengan and the kitsune-bi flame thrower (a clone and the original respectively) but, it was slow going.

The third step of the rasengan was mixing the two previous ones and try to make a normal balloon not to explode and remain perfectly spherical with them, if he managed to pop it, he could start his training with the technique without them, but as previously said, "KAMI DAMN IT, I'M GOING TO DISPELL IF THE DAMN THING REFUSES TO EXPLODE" it was slow going.

The original had had an idea on how to advance the fox-fire the night before; if he could manage to use the chakra control exercise he learned back in Wave at the same time the flame appeared, it would give the effect of expelling the youki towards his target, and it was true: his current range with it was ten feet, good, but unsatisfactory for Kurama, who said that that distance was the minimum range the technique could achive.

Megumi, Konohamaru and Moegi were panting on the ground: after five tries at the Honmono no henkan, Megumi and Moiegi had collapsed in exhaustion, and Konohamuru followed three tries later. He couldn't really blame them though; he had created the jutsu at their age, when he had at least twice their chakra reserves.

There was a second clone watching the kids, and advancing the 'clan' training of Megumi, since she was, at least officially, an Uzumaki. Even if she wasn't related by blood, she was as much family as the Ichiraku and Sarutobi-jiji.

The shadow-clone looked up to the sky. His team training would start soon, the boss had to get going, and he had orders, "Oi, Kono, Moegi, you have to leave now, the boss is going to leave and go with Kurenai-sensei." The two kids groaned in response, "Don't give me that, you have your own clan training to do, and Megumi-chan needs to be as strong her Onii-chan, Don't you, Megumi-chan?" a pained, yet affirmative groan was his answer.

He waited until the grumbling kids were out of sight before picking the girl up, "you do know why I make you train so hard, right?" The original came up to them "I know you don't like straining yourself," Naruto held Megumi and dispelled the clone "You are family, Megumi-chan, and family is always priority" he started moving to the training ground his team usually trained in, "The world is dangerous, and I don't want you to die because I wasn't there, that's why you have to be strong."

He remembered the times when he lived alone, when all he wanted was to have someone to hold him at night, before he met Iruka. "I know, onii-chan" Megumi grumbled, "doesn't make it any less painful" he couldn't help it, he smiled.

"Hey, it helps any, you could be the next coming of Tsunade" He had taken Megumi to the library some times, the girl had gone to the history section and picked a random book, which happened to have the story of the Sannin. Needless to say, when she read of how strong Tsunade was, she made it her personal goal to be stronger than her. "Without the drinking and gambling, of course"

Megumi sniggered before snuggling close to the red-head; she could sleep until they got to his team's training ground. Behind them the clone working on the rasengan gave yet another frustrated yell.

* * *

*Training ground 8*noon*

When they arrived to the training ground Naruto put Megumi down and had a blood clone (as he had taken to always having one sealed and drugged on his seals) watch her, after she awoke the clone would start her taijutsu training. Hopefully she would find a style that came natural to her, but he didn't want to get his hopes up.

The red-headed teen stepped up to Kurenai-sensei, who was waiting for him to come. She had seen how close he and the girl he had picked four months ago had grown, and knowing Naruto, the boy would put her through a toned-down, yet still extreme for most, version of his own solo-training regime.

"Now that the three of you are here," she spoke to the gennin that had formed a line in front of her, "I'm am going to teach how to better recognize and dispel a genjutsu if you ever get caught in one.

"As you already know, a genjutsu affects the main senses a ninja uses; hearing, eyesight and smell. Shino has an advantage on spotting illusions because of his condition; you should know when someone trapped you because you suddenly started seeing. Hinata has the advantage of being able to see the chakra that is planted into her, allowing you to detect illusions as fast as they are casted. Naruto has a disadvantage, as his reserves are massive and his control sub-par; however Kyuubi is as much an advantage as he is a nuisance in this case, because of his close relationship to you. Should he feel anything strange, he would tell you and you dispel it."

The three gennin nodded, knowing that what she said was true. Naruto though was asking both Kurama AND Kushina to do tell him whenever he fell into an illusion; he didn't trust Kurama fully, since he might believe what he saw through him.

Kurenai started speaking again, "There are three ways to dispel a genjutsu, one of them, the one the academy teaches, is to restrain all your chakra and then flare it, thus cleaning your chakra pathways of foreign chakra.

"The second is the one most gennin use for higher tier genjutsu: any kind of pain or sensation that overloads the nerves will make you come back to reality, so to speak, but it is only good for a few times during battle before you start losing to much blood.

"The third, which is the one you'll probably be using Naruto, is by creating a zone of compressed chakra anywhere, and then release it in a blast that covers the surrounding area. This is the hardest and less useful in group battles because it will dispel EVERY genjutsu in the area, making it a double edged sword.

"I'm going to put the three of you on one of my better illusions, and you have to find which works best, and fastest, of either the first or third methods, since I don't want you to get injured when training." The three of them nodded when she stopped speaking, knowing that it would help them.

Three seconds later, the three were looking at Suna from the sky.

* * *

*With Megumi and the blood clone*

When the little girl came to herself, she found her Onii-chan reading from a little book with a focused expression on his face. Knowing that surprising him would be bad, she went to tap him on the side.

Naruto blinked a few times before smiling down at the girl, the distraction was most welcome. He had been trying to find fighting styles that would fit the girl, but from the dozens on the diary, only four seemed to fit her.

They relied in a strange mix between explosive strength, fast speed and snake-like flexibility on different degrees, all of them possessed by the girl, as prove by the many time she had barreled into him and knocked them to the floor, and how she had managed to change position, many times already, from his arms to his back and from the former to his neck without making them fall over.

The problem was that while Megumi would make use of them, she seemed better suited for support techniques rather than close combat, but he wanted her to be like him: a jack of all trades, with specialization to a slight degree, only enough to be noticeable but not enough to be glaring. The only way would be… "Alright imoto, there are four styles I think can suit you, but, I think you would be better as mid-to-long range ninja, so I will be teaching you some longer ranged techniques in a few months, then I can sick you on Kurenai-sensei or on any Iryo-nin of the hospital so you can learn from them."

The girl nodded eagerly; anything that would help her become as strong as Tsunade would make her happy, well, that and spending time with her Onii-chan and her friends, they were just that fun to be around.

And so BCN and Megumi spent time getting her across the basics of the Tondeken, Inshōkobushi, Sutoraikā no hebi and the Rōringusandā, the fastest fighting styles the Uzumaki possessed.

When the real Naruto came back, the poor girl was sitting by a tree with several empty water bottles at her side.

* * *

*With team eight*

Naruto was still falling towards Suna. The first release method had failed him spectacularly, so he was trying the third one out.

He blocked all possible chakra form leaving his core for as long as prudent before letting it go.

Shino, Hinata and Kurenai staggered back as a wall of chakra slammed into them before moving on. When they looked at the spot Naruto was standing on, all they saw was a pile of weapons, scrolls, cups of instant ramen, books, notebooks, spilled ink, brushes, needles, clothe, mesh and something that smelt as if a dog had eaten shit, then puked and then peed on the result.

On the bottom of everything was a very disgruntled Naruto, who had unintentionally unsealed everything he had on his arms and wrists. The three of them helped the red-headed teen out of the pile of junk, which he got into sealing back as soon as he could move again.

Five minutes later, a full squad of ANBU, accompanied by the Hokage in full gear, "What happened here?" asked Sarutobi as he saw the ink and pills on the ground, "Forget that, what was that chakra surge we felt?"

Naruto slowly raised his hand, covered in ink of different colors, with a sheepish expression, "well," he said, "Kurenai-sensei was having us try different ways to dispel genjutsu" he gave a chuckle, "since the standard kai failed with me, I tried the other method she showed us, and I…heh…I over did it a bit"

One could FEEL the incredulous expression on the faces of the ANBU, one of which was Yuugao, as they stared at the ink-covered red-head, "You mean to tell us," spoke the one with a tiger mask, "that you used a kai technique that reached the ANBU headquarters, from here to the other end of the village, because of a training exercise?" somehow he casted a light under his face, making him seem like a demonic human-tiger, it was quite a scary sight.

Naruto nodded hesitantly, scared witless because of the man, "good, it would be the perfect alert," said 'Ryu' "I mean, if he sees anything out of the ordinary he could do that and we could reach him in minutes" the others, even 'Tora' nodded in appreciation of the idea.

"It is decided then" said Hiruzen, "tone it down if you are ever caught in a genjutsu, but use it as you just did if there is an emergency Naruto, it will be very helpful to the village."

With that said the Hokage and ANBU went back to the village.

"What just happened?" it would be Naruto that broke the silence that ensued.

"It would appear that Hokage-sama has made you part of the early alarm team" Said Shino adjusting his sunglasses.

"Right, back to practice," The three gennin looked at Kurenai-sensei, "Naruto, this time make it less compresses or hold it for less time, we don't need another ANBU squad onto us"

The rest of the day until lunch was spent practicing genjutsu releases.

* * *

*Open training grounds*

Naruto and Megumi spent some time wandering the forests around Konoha, with Megumi talking about some of the things that had happened to her daily and Naruto telling her stories of his missions.

Eventually they came to a rather odd sight: in the middle of a clearing were two overgrown caterpillars running towards each other screaming "Lee" and "Gai-sensei"

Standing some meters from them was a girly boy with a cream-white jacket and black shorts and a girl with a panda hair-do, a Chinese-style dress and baggy pants. Both of them were looking horrified, so the two of them walked into the clearing.

Naruto touched the shoulder of the panda-girl, making her look at them. She looked oddly familiar to him, "what are the giat caterpillars doing?" he asked the girl, much to her amusement.

"They are Lee and Gai-sensei showing their 'flames of youth' as they call them" she actually welcomed the distraction from the two, what followed was simply horrifying. "Name's Ten-Ten, by the way"

The dots clicked into place, "YO, Panda-chan" A twitch showed that she had remembered who she was talking to.

"It's good to see you, Naruto" she said annoyed.

"So that's what happened to Lee," he grew increasingly concerned as the two spandex-clad men got nearer to each other.

"Yeah, he got corrupted by Sensei soon after we were assigned to him" she noticed the girl standing by Naruto's side, "And who is her? I don't remember seeing her with you before"

Megumi looked at the older girl, she looked nice, "I'm Megumi, Onii-chan's imoto"

At her inquisitive look Naruto decided to elaborate, "My team got called on a clearing mission, she was a prisoner at the camp, I brought her with me and I adopted her."

"I didn't take you to be mature enough to take care of someone, let alone yourself"

Naruto grew an annoyed expression, "I'll have you know that I've been leaving on my own since I was five"

"Yeah, how did you manage that, anyway?" she was curious, how did he manage to get his own house when she had been trying that until she was adopted?

"I managed to blackmail the Hokage into buying me an apartment" her jaw hitting the ground made him chuckle before elaborating, "Since I snuck into his office when he was reading smut and told him to get me a real house or the rumors would start spreading"

"The Hokage reads PORN?!" She shouted scandalized, unknowingly getting the attention of the other men

"How un-youthful of Hokage-sama, to read such un-youthful material" spoke the larger caterpillar-look-alike.

"Yeah, good to see you're getting stronger Lee-sempai" Said the red-head, "though you'll never beat my awesomeness, DATTEBAYO!"

The younger one of the green-clad duo blinked in confusion before striking a pose and grinning and Naruto, "YOSH, NARUTO-KUN, how youthful to see well"

"You…too?" honestly, how do you reply to that? "So, how are the weights I made you faring?" He had given both ten-Ten and Lee a graduation present on his first go at the academy, when he was on their class instead of his own age-group. Lee's was a set of seal-covered weight-bands that got heavier by the month, while Ten-Ten got a scroll with storage-expelling seals so she could practice with her weapons.

"Yosh, they have made more youthful that I was at the academy" he frowned, "Did you manage to get an instructor that wasn't un-youthful to you?"

Making a mostly correct assumption at what the question meant, the red-head said "Yeah, got landed with Iruka-nii, graduated five months ago" he tapped his neck and left shoulder, where his Konoha and Uzu headbands were tied.

A poke at his side made his attention turn to Megumi, who pointed at her stomach. He nodded. "I'll be going now, Later Lee-sempai, Panda-chan" he picked Megumi and ran away to angry shouts. The Ramen was calling for a sacrifice.

* * *

**YOSH, LET YOUTH TAKE OVER YOU.**

**Not really, no. I'll kill you myself if you let that happen, really I will.  
**

**Right, new chapter. I originally planned to have more taijutsu training with Megumi, but my brain decided not, I both hate and love that guy.  
The same happened with the chakra wave, it just decided to make it happen.  
**

**Now, onto pressing matters, at least for some of you. Fuu has passed Karin on the pairing poll and is now ahead by a vote and Shizuka is still in third place.  
**

**I want to buy Halo4 and Assassasin's creed 3 and Black ops 2 and Medal of Honor warfighter, and so many other videogames.  
**


	22. October tenth

**October tenth.**

*Konohagakure*noon*

To some people, this day had a joyful meaning, as it was the day that the Kyuubi no Kitsune had been defeated. To others it was sorrowful, as many lives had been lost to the beast, and their families mourned the fallen. What most people of the Village Hidden in the Leaves could agree to, though, was that a boy named Uzumaki Naruto deserved an incredibly harsh treatment, if for nothing else than because he housed the beast.

There was a third group, however, that celebrated something different, the birthday of said boy. This group consisted of no more than fifteen people, who the red-head had managed to charm into seeing him for who he was. They were Umino Iruka, Ichiraku Ayame and Teuchi, Yuhi Kurenai, Uzuki Yuugao Hyuuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Yuki Haku, Kinzoku Hagane, Sarutobi Konohamaru, Daidai Moigi and Uzumaki Megumi, the red-head's sister in all but blood.

The people were preparing a surprise for the teen's birthday, as he had only them in village with a population of over a thousand.

"Right, here's the plan" Spoke Iruka from the desk in front of his classroom, "Megumi, you get him out of the apartment with Moegi's and Kono's help. Hinata, you and Shino distract him if he somehow slips from the three of them; he has always enjoyed spars, so there's an Idea. Ayame-chan, Teuchi-san, prepare enough ramen for all of us, and make him his favorite, I'll provide the money. Chouji, Shika, you two are helping me and Kurenai decorate his house."

"I'll bring the presents with Yuugao's help after the party starts" Hiruzen said and Yuugao nodded her agreement.

"Then let's get to it, we have nine hours" Yuugao said, and they all left the academy.

* * *

*With Naruto*

He was mourning; his mother was trapped, his father was death, Kurama was trapped. He always spent his birthdays indoors, either in Iruka's house, the Ichiraku's, Shika's, Chouji's, Shino's, even one time he went to Hinata's, though that led to a humiliating prank on the Hyuugas a whole. It was easier spending time indoors that facing the harshest glares of the year.

It would be sad to many outsiders to see a teen acting depressed instead of celebrating as he should be.

A knock on his door made his attention shift from a crack on the roof to the door of his room, "enter" he said.

Oblivious to what was going on in his mind, entered a cheerful 'Uzumaki Corps.' "Ne, Bosu, we were wondering if you could train us for a bit, you know, teach us a cool jutsu?" Asked Konohamaru.

Naruto pondered on what to do; on one hand it would keep boredom and depression away, on the other he would have to cross the village, something he didn't really want to do. He sighed, "Sure, come on" he stood from his bed and fixed his hair, not that it would do any good.

* * *

*Forests*

Naruto sighed; he always did that a lot this day, as he stood in front of the exited children. Other than to Megumi, he couldn't teach them much, only enough to get them a bit more advanced on the academy curriculum as they were a few months away from a new cycle, so that pushed ninjutsu out of the window, fuinjutsu would be too much complicated for them, he couldn't do genjutsu to save his life, and kenjutsu was a bad thing to teach kids; which left chakra control and physical training.

He jumped up a tree and snapped a branch, jumping down with it. "Right, this is a basic chakra control exercise." He took a handful of leaves and touched them to his chest, "you have to use chakra to stick a leaf to a part of yourself, since it is hard to do with reserves like mine, it should be a piece of cake to you, even if I don't think you'll get it today"

He smiled at their faces; it was fun, seeing them like that after questioning their abilities. They each grabbed a leaf and put them either on their head, hand and neck.

Almost as soon as they put it there they fell of their bodies, and Naruto smiled a bit wider at their determined faces, "good, that's what happens when not enough chakra is put into it, and if you overload it, it will become a projectile, so try not to do it."

This time it held for different times, with Kono being the lowest and Moegi the longest. The third time Megumi's and Konohamaru's launched towards Naruto and made Moegi lose her concentration. The fourth time, the leaf on Moegi's hand flew towards Megumi, who ducked and launched hers towards Kono.

In the end they made an interesting game with who could throw it the fastest and the furthest: Megumi managed the fastest and Kono the furthest, with Moegi not far behind.

All in all, it was a good way to bring Naruto out of his funk.

* * *

*Two hours later*

After two fun hours of spending time with the leaf slinging brats, Naruto started to wander through the forests. It always calmed him, especially whenever he went into a waterfall that was hidden from view.

But right now he was walking towards his training ground, one that was almost abandoned and only jonin came because it only had three dummies made to feel almost human-like, so whatever weapon masters, contact-jutsu users and taijutsu specialists could practice more deathly moves without risk of someone getting caught in the middle.

He got to the middle of it and sat laid down to watch the clouds pass by. _**'If there's one thing I'll miss as long as I'm trapped is the ability to just lay down stare at the sky, specially yours, much better than the one in Makai'**_ Said Kurama.

'_Yeah, I remember the times when your father and I would just sit down and let the time pass by_' said Kushina with a wistful sigh.

'_Don't worry you two, I'll find a way, just give time DATTEBAYO!_' It was the perfect moment; all he needed was a BIG bowl of Ramen, yes that would make it perfect.

The red-head laid there for quite a while, letting his mind wander: Were there other people with Biiju sealed in them? How did the complete rasengan look like? Was it possible to lick an elbow? How much can the Chakurarēdā extend? What was on the scroll he found in that cave? How many jutsu DID Kakashi know? Could he make genjutsu with seals? What was the answer to the life, the universe and everything else?

The sound of talking brought his mind back to Earth, unaware that there was a book with the answer to his last question. "Naruto is located here." It was Shino that spoke

"O-ohayo, Naruto-kun" said Hinata, "I-I was wondering If you would like a spar?"

He shrugged, "Why not?" a shudder went up his back "but no chakra with you jyuken, last time I was sore for two days"

She nodded than settled into a stance, Naruto doing the same. "I will be monitoring, start when I say so" Said Shino.

When he gave the signal, both Naruto and Hinata stayed in place, waiting for the perfect moment.

Naruto charged full speed at Hinata, surprising her for a second. He threw a palm-strike at her stomach, followed by a knee to her thigh.

She blocked the hand heading to her belly with her right and used that moment to hit his arm before stepping away from his kick. Before he regained the balance from the kick she poked him once on each shoulder, making him wince.

Naruto closed in again and attacked in a kick to her shins. He smirked when it was blocked and punched her in the chest, making her stumble back. He didn't let the assault up, kicking her on the shoulder.

Hinata managed to duck under the last kick and poked the leg dour times in different places behind and below the knee.

The red-head almost fell on his ass when his foot returned to the ground, as the blunette had blocked appendage. Leaning on his left leg, he redirected the strikes his teammate sent his way, being careful to watch her fingers, as even without chakra they were a pain to deal with.

He caught the girl by her wrist as he leaned away from a poke at his chest, and threw her away in a show of strength.

Hinata righted herself mid-air and landed on her feet, only to jump as Naruto slid under her and stood up as he passed her.

The whiskered teen palmed Hinata on the shoulder blades as she tried to turn around. Only his left hand connected with her and his right overextended, leaving him open for another poke to the shoulder.

When Hinata recovered from the hit, she started to target different areas of his front before he recovered. Naruto got hit five times on the stomach, three on the chest and once again on the right shoulder, that was starting to go numb by now.

The whiskered boy parried another palm strike with his right hand and punched her bellow the ribs, taking the wind out of her. Before she could recover he threw his leg upwards, nailing her in the chin and sending her flying away, near to where Shino was standing.

He leaped towards her, only to collapse as soon as his right foot hit the ground; the limb finally giving in as the strikes from earlier took full effect.

The two stood on shaky legs; one from being almost knocked out and the other from a numb leg. Naruto grinned as Hinata had a determined glint to her eyes; the fight had upped in intensity.

With effort Hinata charged at her opponent, she would win this spar, if only to delay him. She ducked under a swipe to her neck and got Naruto under his right armpit, making the limb buckle as it los feeling.

Naruto spun around and struck Hinata with a roundhouse to the kidney, pushing her away and giving him a chance to end to this before he stayed with two useless limbs for the rest of the day.

The red-head lashed out with his left hand, stopping a few centimeters from her neck.

"The spar has ended as a draw" Said Shino with a note of surprise.

Naruto looked down to his chest; Hinata had managed to position her hands near his heart, a few inches more and she would have hit it. He looked up; he would have cut the jugular if he was armed with anything other than his hands.

He grinned and slung his useful arm around her shoulders, he had had to drop half of his weights, a total of 45 kilos to keep up with her. Next time Hinata would make him drop even more, so he had to up his training some.

He looked up, the sun was already beginning its decent; they had to get back.

* * *

*Naruto's apartment*Half hour later*

Shikamaru, Choji, Kurenai and Iruka had put decorations on the eating-hall floor of the complex, making it look like a proper party hall rather than just an empty room.

Ayame and Teuchi were putting the finishing touches to the ramen that was boiling on some pots the teen had on his kitchen

The Uzumaki Corps were carrying plates from the kitchen to the table that was put on the hall, with one of them checking the door every once in a while.

A knock made Kono run to the door and usher Ten-Ten and Lee inside. "Sorry for dropping unannounced, but we wanted to wish Naruto a happy birthday" Said Ten-Ten

"Yosh, we invited our youthful teammate, but he didn't want to come to celebrate Naruto-kun" said Lee with his 'good guy' pose.

"Come in, he should get here soon, along with Shino and Hinata" said Iruka from the mess hall.

The two followed Konohamaru to the dining room and sat on the table, making small talk with Iruka, Kurenai, the Uzumaki Corps and the Ichiraku.

Half an hour later Megumi came running into the room, turning lights off as she went and screaming "Onii-chans here!"

Ayame and Teuchi hurried to bring the pots out to the table before he entered to floor and took place besides everyone else.

When Naruto entered everything was dark, but there were some voices from the mess hall. He limped his way there and jumped a feet into the air as everyone shouted, "SURPISE!"

He was left speechless as the lights came on to reveal all his friends and extended family standing behind a table lined with Ramen and cake. "What..?" he said after a few moments of silence.

Iruka smiled at him "We know you don't like your birthday much, and that the closest you've come to a real party was a few months after I met you."

Ayame continued from there, "So Iruka, Tou-san and I organized this. We told all your friends when Megumi told us that you weren't doing anything today." Said girl nodded with enthusiasm.

He smiled so hard his cheeks started to hurt, "thanks"

The Hokage and Yuugao entered that moment, "Ah, I hope we aren't late, but I had to pass for his presents" Between the two of them they were carrying ten bundles.

That night would be something that burned into his memory as one of the happiest moments of his life, one of the simple moments before his life started to get complicated.

**Right, since I've only seen it done once, here is my take on how Naruto turned thirteen, hope you like it.**

**Now, before you complain about OCCness, how would you feel on the anniversary of someone's death? I portrayed Naruto here in the same way I feel in the anniversary of my grappa's death, and the same way my family cheers each other up that day since we were all close to him.  
**

**I would have posted this yesterday, but my internet went down and all I could do was wait or it come back.  
**

**Congratulations Fuu, since she has left Karin three votes behind, looks like the green-haired jinchuriki is more liked than the flirty red-had, bu oh well, what can you do?  
**

**I'll be back on friday with the prologue to the Hero's water OVA.  
**


	23. The escort to Takigakure

**The escort to Takigakure.**

Team eight was lounging in the mission office, waiting for the chunnin to give them a request that would satisfy the four of them. "There is one I was planning on giving to Izumo and Kotetsu, but I can give it to you, since they like guard duty."

The man handed Kurenai a scroll with a kanji and a 'C' on it, "The leader of the Village Hidden in the Waterfall came to the Hokage some weeks ago with an alliance request, and since the highest level Taki has managed since Kakuzu is a borderline A, he wants additional manpower for anything that could happen on his way back."

The four nodded, thinking it interesting that they would visit another hidden village, "alright team, we're meeting the client and then I want you to go and prepare, it shouldn't be longer that two weeks, if that much"

Kurenai guided them towards a room in the other side of the floor, all the while telling them the details of the mission. She opened the door to find about fifteen people of different ages, all looking hopefully at them and with utter boredom written on their faces.

"We're here for Shibuki of Takigakure no Sato, his escort" A man in his late teens stood up, relief evident in his face, He had black eyes and hair, the latter being as long as to reach his upper back. He was wearing a green shirt, grey pants and the traditional ninja sandals.

"Thank Kami you arrived, I was sure I would die of boredom in there," he said once the group room, he looked at the children, "There was nothing to do there." His terrified face made the children snicker.

"We have heard stories, Shibuki-sama" said Kurenai, and then to her students, "Go pack, I'll be waiting for you at the west gate with Shibuki-sama." The three kids nodded and ran their separate ways.

* * *

*Half hour later*West gate*

As per usual Shino was the last to arrive to the meeting point, with a pack swung over his shoulder. Naruto was talking with Shibuki bout the Waterfall and Hinata was just listening to both the conversation and 'I'm bored' rant the chunnin at the gate was spouting.

"Alright!" said Shibuki cheerfully, "can we leave now? I really want to see Fuu-imoto." The five started to walk out the doors.

"So, you were telling me about this 'Fuu', who is she?" Asked Naruto once the gates were out of sight.

"Fuu-imoto is my sister in all but blood, I found her when she was a kid. She was rummaging some trash-bins because she hadn't eaten I a while, so I took her with me and she lived with my father and I until he died, then she moved towards the outskirts of the village. I visit her from time to time, just to catch up and get her updates on what's going on"

Naruto looked down to his feet, remembering the first time he had seen Iruka.

* * *

*Flashback*Naruto age six*

_A skinny red-headed kid was swimming in a garbage-bin, looking for whatever would keep him alive for another day. After one hour of no results the kid took to the streets of the market area._

_The small kid roamed the street many times, looking for a kind soul that would give him something to eat. As he walked he spotted a man that left his shopping bag in a counter, '_I know it's bad to steal, but I'll do it just this once, I haven't eaten anything for days'

_Mind made up the kid was flooded with adrenaline and ran full speed to the where the bag was. He slipped between the legs of the people shopping and grabbed the groceries just as the man was coming out of the store. "HEY, BRING THAT BACK YOU THIEF!" Shouted the man, but Naruto paid him no mind, for his thoughts were only on getting to a safe place._

_He ran to one of the many parks that littered Konoha and jumped into a rose bed behind a low fence._

_He opened the bag as he caught his breath, a tired yet triumphant smirk on his face. "Itadakimasu" he said as he looked down to the fruit-filled bag. He picked an apple and started eating slowly, for he wanted everything to last._

_He dug a hole after finishing the apple and put the rest of the bag in it, tying a knot in the bag so insects couldn't get in. Satisfied for the day he left his hiding spot._

_Only to be grabbed by the back of his clothes as he stood up, "Got ya," the man he had stolen the fruit from was holding him up, "You gave me quite some trouble gaki, that bag was for me," Naruto was struggling in his grip as the man carried him at an arm's length._

_They entered a building. The man, who he now noticed was scarred in the face and had brown hair in a weird hair-do, pinched him and he went numb, "You're lucky I am who I am gaki, anyone else would have killed you on the spot."_

_Naruto gulped at the thought, even if he was now at the mercy of this strange man, it was better than being killed, Right?_

_Soon the smell of miso filled the air, but the man was still invisible to him, as he had been left in a couch. He stayed there for a long time, and only when his stomach started to protest did the man come back, "If I give you control back, do you promise NOT to run away?" a deadpan look was his answer, "Right, blink one for yes, twice for no" Naruto blinked once, and the man smiled, "good, now come, you need a meal"_

_The man led Naruto to a table where two bowls of steaming miso were served. Naruto dug in as soon as the two seated and gave thanks._

"_Thanks mister," said Naruto as soon as he was done._

"_Call me Iruka, and don't worry, you needed it" Iruka said with a smile, "It must be quite hard, living in the streets, at least I had some inheritance left for me when I was left an orphan" Naruto looked down when he said that._

_Iruka watched the kid in front of him, Naruto reminded him of himself, back when he was in the academy, shortly after the Kyuubi attack, Had it been six years already?_

"_Hey, Naruto," The kid looked at him and Iruka smiled kindly, "How would you like to live with me?"  
Naruto blinked once, twice, three time for good measure and threw himself at the older male._

* * *

*Back at the present*

'_Is there someone out there who has suffered the same as me?'_ It made sense, there were nine Bijuu, so there were bound to be more jinchuriki. Ah if only he had paid attention to the history lesson on Senju Hashirama.

"So you have the same relationship with her as Iruka and I" he said, much to the confusion of Shibuki.

"I'll assume you're an orphan and this Iruka your guardian, so yes" said the Taki-nin.

"How is she, her personality, I mean?" how alike were they?

Here Shibuki hesitated, "Well, before my father was killed she was smiling all the time, always making jokes, even when people belittled her." He seemed to withdraw into himself, "That changed, when Tou-san was killed she stopped caring for anyone other than me an herself, even if she does protect the village still." He leaned and whispered into Naruto's ear, "I wouldn't mind if you got together with her, she needs a boyfriend"

Naruto blushed and spluttered, "WHAT THE HELL DATTEBAYO?!" he shouted at Shibuki.

The older teen just shrugged, "Weeell, you have something that makes me want to trust you, maybe it's your hair, but I'm not sure" The Konoha-nin just stared at him.

"What the hell?" was the thing that ran through everyone's head, but just ignored it in favor of catching up to Shibuki, who had kept walking alone.

* * *

**Well I'm goint to cut it there because otherwise I would go into the Ova instead of making this just a prologue/flashback.**

**I hope you like the meeting with Iruka, he's always been one of my favorite characters, up there with the old man and Jiraya and Killer Bee and Kushina, so I simply couldn't put him as a hater.  
**

**The positions on the poll are still the same: Fuu-23 Karin-20 Shizuka-16. It'll remain open until new year, so vote for you favorite if you haven't alreay.  
**

**Ja né  
**


	24. Arrival to Taki

**Arriving** **to** **Taki**

*****Forest*Morning*

It had been two days since the group had left Konoha and Naruto was starting to get fed up with the constant insinuations from Shibuki that he and 'Fuu', a girl he hadn't even met yet, would make a good couple, so after yet another "you should meet her" from the Taki-nin he snapped, "WOULD YOU STOP IT DATTEBAYO!" a few deep breaths, "I won't mind meeting her, but if you keep trying to play match maker I'm going to make sure you arrive to Taki missing your tongue"

The dark-haired man cowered from the twitching teen behind Kurenai, who along with the others (even Shino) had a large sweat drop on the back of their heads, "You shouldn't threaten a client Naruto" said Kurenai, "Wait for the mission to finish if you are going to threaten a foreigner"

Shibuki shrunk even more at the malicious grin on Naruto's face.

A hawk with a leaf insignia on the back came down to Kurenai. The raven-haired woman read the message on its leg and looked to her students after stepping away from Shibuki.

"The Hokage has called the jonin of the village to a meeting regarding a coming event" her eyes narrowed a fraction "I'm leaving the rest of the mission to you, I want you to head back after Shibuki-sama is safe within Taki, UNDERSTOOD?"

"HAI SENSEI" saluted the three gennin, already knowing the difference between the 'older sister' Kurenai and the 'jonin captain' Kurenai. The woman left, heading towards the village at speed the young ones could barely see.

The three motioned at Shibuki to wait and had a huddled conversation, "We need to decide a leader, and I'm sorry if this offends you Hinata, but it's either Shino or me"

"D-don't w-worry Naruto-kun, I know I'm not leader material" said the shy Hyuuga.

"Not yet Hinata, you just need confidence" said Shino in his usual monotone, "And I'm not one to lead a group, logic makes us Aburame better as seconds"

"Yeah" Naruto looked at him oddly, "I'll have to beat that out of you, only you lead your actions, but whatever" he looked at them while pulling down his goggles and re-tying his Konoha and Uzu headbands on his forehead and neck, "So I'm leading until we get to Konoha," his teammates nodded, "You're still doing most of the planning Shino" the group separated, though buzzing could be heard from the brown-haired Aburame.

Shibuki looked at Naruto oddly when he saw the sudden movement of accessories and when he saw that the other two had lagged behind a bit, "We're moving now right?" he frowned when only Naruto nodded, "Well if we run it should take only a few hours at most"

"Alright, we'll follow you Shibuki-dono" said Shino and they set off.

* * *

*Waterfall Lake*three hours later*

Shibuki, Naruto, Hinata and Shino dropped from the trees at the edge of a lake that had some young children playing in it.

As soon as the kids saw the group they ran towards the Taki-leader, "Shibuki-sama" the shouted as they ran to tackle the older man.

"Hey kids, how are you?" he smiled at them

"We're good, our mothers let us wait for you out here," the bigger of the children, a brown-haired kid, looked at the Konoha-nin, "Are they here to help us Shibuki-sama?" he asked pointing at them

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "well, why not, Kurenai-sensei did say we were at your call until you were inside and safe" he shrugged, "but anything other than combat will get us an extra D-rank pay"

The kids grinned evilly "Well we brought our dog, but he ate too much and pooped all over the place" they put the dog up and pouted, "Could you please clean it up?" the four kids said together.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "whatever," he moved his foot forward, only for it to land in a pile of shit, "EW, EW, EW" he hopped on one foot and once again landed in a dropping, "goddamit!"

Inside his head Kurama was laughing his tails off and Kushina was letting a few giggles slip. Outside everyone was laughing at him, everyone but Shino that is.

After many more comic moments of Naruto stepping on piles of crap, Shibuki spoke to the gennin, "Guys I'm taking you inside the village now" everyone nodded "kids take the main entrance; I'm leading them to the visitor's one"

He motioned for the Konoha-nin to follow him into the lake, "Taki has two entry ways" he explained, "One that everyone that lives inside the village knows, and one that changes every month and only used by visitors" they were standing in the middle of the water now, "Now take a deep breath and follow me"

The Taki-nin jumped high into the air and dived into the water, the others soon following. He led them through a maze of underwater roots and rocks, the only light being the one that came occasionally from gaps in-between roots. They swam for a good four minutes, and if it wasn't for Shibuki Naruto was sure they would have gotten lost.

They surfaced in a pond in what seemed to be a plaza and Shibuki was smiling cheerfully at them, "Welcome," he said, "To Takigakure no Sato"

Naruto took the time to admire what he could see from his position inside the pond: Trees were growing all around town, giving it a kind of wild image, while still remaining firmly civilized. The buildings were made of rock with wood rooftops. He looked up and squinted; the sun came from the canopy and gave the impression of being inside a box. A large tree was easily distinguished as the largest of the village and was in what Naruto assumed was the center of the village.

Shibuki noticed where his gaze was resting upon, "That's where our hero's water, the village's treasure, comes from" he smiled sadly, "It's also where Tou-san used to work" his smile turned into a grin "let's get going, I want to show you as much as I can before you have to go."

The man took them for a tour, starting on the plaza they were on, going round the outskirts and moving inwards.

They arrived to the large tree that was indeed in the middle of the village and a figure dropped down from it, scaring Shibuki.

It was a girl, no older than the gennin, with green hair, tan skin, orange eyes, green shorts, white shirt and arm warmers and a mocking smirk in her face, "Good to see you're back Shibuki, though I could go without you hopping around" the dark-haired man ran to hug her, which she returned for a second before a noticing the Konoha-gennin, "And you are?" she asked them, the smile dropping almost immediately.

Naruto didn't let the hard look get to him, if anything he saw it as a personal challenge, "YO! Uzumaki Naruto Dattebayo" he said, "These are Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino" the girl shyly poked her fingers together and the boy gave a nod of acknowledgement.

The green-haired girl grunted and turned to Shibuki, "Someone came looking for the water, scared them away with Nana's help"

The older teen had stiffened when he heard of the attempt on the water, but visibly relaxed when he heard that the girl had scared them away, "Thanks Fuu, I'll treat you to something later"

Fuu hugged Shibuki again before she disappeared into the canopy. Shibuki looked at the Konoha gennin, more specifically, Naruto, "That was Fuu, she's cold now, but you could get her to open up" It was only the combined efforts of both Hinata and Shino that prevented Naruto from punching their client. Shibuki ignored it all in favor of looking around, "Come with me, I need your help with this"

* * *

*Takigakure's town square*

The group of four arrived there after a few minutes of walking. The plaza was oddly silent.

A laugh was heard; it was hard and cold, menacing in its tone "So the coward returns" a man in his late twenties, with spiky hair being held back by a bandana, his face was sharp and a small beard was marring his chin. The man was grinning arrogantly.

Besides hem were two men and a woman. The first man was wearing a black tank-top and brown arm warmers along with blue pants. He had light blue hair held back by and Ame hita-ate, a green line ran along his nose.

The second man was wearing mostly blue, with a black long-sleeved black shirt under an overall, the undershirt extended to his face, covering everything but his eyes, and his headband let only a few bangs of dark brown hair slip under it, covering his left eye.

The woman would make every man but a few of the strongest will faint by a massive nosebleed. The onlything she was wearing that could be considered decent were her blue shinobi pants, but that was all. Her top consisted of nothing but a green shirt that covered only the lowest part of her breasts and the highest part of her belly. A diadem held her hair back, though a few bangs still clung to her forehead.

"I would say that it's good to see you again, Shibuki" the name was spat from the leader's mouth, "But it would be a lie, I only came here for the water and nothing else, so if you would be so kind as to give it to me"

The Taki-leader was shaking in fear as he gazed at the group in front of him, as if a nightmare had come to life and haunted him. His head shook mutely from side to side and he backed up a bit, taking cover behind Naruto.

The woman grinned, and did the man with a line on his face, as they started to weave through hind-seals, "Well, if you aren't cooperating, we'll have to take you by force"

"Suiton: Suiben" from the mall stream nearby formed two cords that flew into the hands of the waiting missing-nin. The whips were spun a few times, before launching themselves at Shino and Hinata who dodged out of the way. Yet the water followed them, and if it wasn't for Hinata grabbing Shino throwing them to the ground they would have been caught by the technique and even then it was a close call.

A third water whip caught them in the back, making them bleed some. This was the last straw for Shibuki, who ran away shortly after.

Naruto made two clones quickly and grabbed his teammates, snarling at the nuke-nin as he followed Shibuki away from there. He would fight back, even if he was the only one to do so.

The missing nin fell in with their leader, the man that had spoken to Shibuki, "What do we do now Suien-sama?" asked the woman.

"We will wait before attacking Hisame" said Suien, "You saw the glare that red-head gave us, he will be back to fight us, even if he has to do it alone."

"Shouldn't we follow them then," said the man with covered face, "Kill them before they can lick their wounds to health"

"No Kirisame, I want to crush them after I drink the Hero's water, show the world that we are to be feared" Suien looked at the man with the blue hair, "Murasame, gather the Fuuma and get them in, we'll need them as cannon fodder"

"Hai, Shuien-sama" said Murasame.

Up in a tree was a glaring Fuu, the reason she hadn't killed them the first time she saw them was starting to fade; If only Shibuki wasn't such a coward and had fought them. The green-haired girl started to retreat into the tree.

The siege for the control over Taki and its treasure, the Hero's water, had begun.

* * *

**Have you ever been so bored that you willingly started to do your homework instead of procrastinating until it's after 11. It happened to me yesterday, I fear it will happen again soon.**

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday but my internet went down and didn't come back until dinner, which is by 10PM in my house.  
**

**The poll is still the same, and Fuu is finally introduced this chapter for those that wanted to see her already, and to those that WILL say that she's not as you expected: don't worry, Naruto will work his magic with her just as he will do with Shibuki.  
**

**I don't know if the next update WILL be on friday since my router has been strange since last thursday and it drops without warning, so...  
**

**Well whatever, until I update.  
**

**Ja né  
**


	25. Why fight?

**Why fight?**

***Takigakure no Sato***

Shibuki and team eight were crouching by a bush, hiding from the missing-nin that had attacked them in the town plaza, "Who the hell were those guys dattebayo?" Naruto asked the shaking Taki-nin.

His answer came not from Shibuki, but from Fuu, who jumped down from the trees and landed by them, "That was Suien" she scowled at the name, "he taught Shibuki back when he was a kid, one day the bastard took a bottle of Hero's water and fled the village, but not before killing Shibuki's father, and almost killing him"

'_Well I suppose that's enough to make anyone jumpy'_ thought Naruto.

"A-ano, what IS the Hero's water?" asked Hinata "Y-you've said that it's important, b-but not why" She flushed as Fuu turned to her.

The green-haired girl made to speak, but the still-shaking Shibuki beat her to it "The Hero's Water is a special water that comes from a spring that's high on nature chakra" he shivered and gained a faraway look, "Because of that any person that drinks it gains a boost in raw power, at the cost of years of your life, it's about the same as opening the Chakra Gates"

* * *

_*Flashback*Shibuki age seven*_

"_Ne, Ne, Otou-sama, look" a seven year old Shibuki came running to an older man that had obvious resemblance to the kid._

"_Ah, that's pretty Shibuki, where did you find it?" the man asked. Shibuki had flower between his hands, it was just blooming, a contrast from the other plants around, which had done so a few weeks ago._

_A girl with a mint green-dress came up to them, smiling as if there was nothing wrong with the world, "Ne, Shidō-oji-san, can we go it something?"_

_The man chuckled at the girl, "Of course Fuu-chan, what would you like?"_

_The young girl started whispering to Shibuki, who shook his head and whispered to Fuu in return. Shidō shook his head at their antics, even if they weren't related the two were as close as real siblings._

_A thickness in the air came to him as the two kids discussed and Shidō started to channel chakra into a water bottle by his side._

_A shadow covered him and Shidō threw himself to the right, three seconds later a water sword shattered the bench he had been sitting on._

_A man with shaggy hair was holding onto the sword that had almost crashed him, "Well old age hasn't diminished your reflexes, that's for sure" Suien chuckled, "Doesn't matter, by the end of the day I'll be gone from this hell-hole and you'll be death"_

_Shidō put himself between the kids and Suien, "If you think you can kill me you are mistaken Suien" the water from the bottle floated and formed a sword in front of the aged Taki-leader, "__Takigakure Ryu: Mizukiri no Yaiba__"_

_Shido blocked a strike from the rouge-nin and recoiled from the force behind the blow. The man parried a stab to his navel and countered with a high slash to Suien's chest, but the man leaned to the left and cut Shido's shoulder, "What's the matter old guy" the rouge taunted, "am I too fast for you? Maybe too strong?" Shido grunted as he blocked an overhead blow._

"_You drank The Water" It was a statement, "You drank the Hero's Water outside of battle" his response was a laugh and a slash to his chest, "You know this will never be forgiven Suien, You'll become a missing-nin!" his statement was punctuated by a stab to the shoulder._

_Suien only laughed in return as he thrust his water sword overpowered Shido's own, "As if I care," he parried a blow and stabbed the Taki-leader in the chest "Don't worry though, I'll be back when the time comes," he said as he watched the life leave Shido's eyes "And I'll kill your son just as I killed you, and there's nothing he can do against his _sensei_ if I drink The Water again."_

_Suien walked away from the corpse, and didn't look back as the children rushed over to the death body of the Taki-leader. The rouge didn't know that his actions would make a coward and an ice cube out of the crying kids._

* * *

*Present*

"Both of us changed that day, he for the worse and I for the better, but whatever" Fuu scoffed as she looked around.

Naruto looked down in thought '_What would happen if _I_ drank it?_' he asked.

'_**Probably the same as if you went into a one-tailed-cloak, and I could probably heal whatever damage it deals to you**_' said Kurama who was actually wondering what would actually happen.

'_There was one time I drank that water during the Third Great Ninja War_' said Kushina, '_My team met up with one from Taki and they offered us some of it as a platoon from Iwa attacked us._'

'_What happened? Said that you had a friend here right?_' asked Naruto

'_The Water left me in bed for three days, and yes I had a friend from this village, but we stopped contact shortly after the war_' said Kushina, '_wonder if she still works as a ninja?_'

'_**Your mother's lack of social memory aside**_' said Kurama, ignoring Kushina's indignant shouts '_**If they offer you take it and use it in the case you need a boost, my chakra may be more potent, but until you learn to control yourself better it's dangerous to use with people nearby**_'

'_Yeah, yeah, and you call Kaa-chan a worry wart_'

'_I'm not a worry wart DATTEBANE_' her shout gave him a small headache.

He shook his head and chuckled sheepishly as everyone turned to look at him, "sorry, spaced out for a second, what did you say?"

Fuu scoffed again "I said that Shibuki will pay you another mission if you help him get rid of Suien-Teme" the Taki-leader nodded weakly.

"And what will you do?" asked Shino. His bugs had been buzzing nervously ever since the girl had dropped down, almost as when he had first met Naruto.

"Me? Meh" she snorted, "I'll work against them getting the village's treasure, but as long as they stay the hell away from…" a flare flashed against the canopy and Fuu sighed, "alright I'm helping you deal with the fuckers, they got to the Water already."

Naruto tightened his hitai-ates and adjusted his goggles (he would have to get those tightened) before addressing his teammates and the orange-eyed girl, because Shibuki was a useless load right now, "You know where they are, take point"

Fuu scoffed, "Don't tell me what to do reddie" but she complied anyway.

* * *

*Hero's Water well*

Suien's followers were just lounging around and waiting for either their leader or the enemy, "so when are they supposed to come here?" asked Murasame to Kirisame.

The woman shrugged, "Dunno, Don't care, they could just hide and we search them, more fun that way"

Hisame watched as the Fuuma chunnin played cards with a deck someone had brought, a large pile of Ryo was sitting there, waiting for someone to get a better hand; he should just take before they saw him.

Suien came into view dragging people that had been tied by their hands: kids, women, men, even a couple of ninja he had managed to capture and wouldn't be a nuisance to deal with as most of the ones on the village were no match for his troops; the best of Taki was barely scratching the borderline B-Rank, while the missing-nin from his Fuuma followers were either a firm B-Rank or a borderline A-Rank.

Up in the trees Naruto watched fuming as he saw the hostages being led by Suien, "We need to do something."

Fuu snorted, "That much is obvious reddie, but there isn't much we can do from here," why, oh why couldn't she get a smarter partner? '_Well, at least Shades looks smart'_ she thought

"I've already sent some kikaichku to them, but they are being swatted away" Said Shino, a slight frustration on his tone.

Naruto looked at his left arm; did he have enough water for the one jutsu Haku had taught him? Did he want to use when there were so many people that could get caught in it? It was a dangerous move, "How many can you get without giving us away Shino?"

"If they have enough logic they will notice as soon as one falls" He said in his usual monotone, "But I could get there of them at the same time"

Naruto nodded as he watched the people down below; one of the men wearing grey jackets had dragged the hostages and tied them to a tree, "do you have anything that can produce acid?" he asked the silent gennin.

Shino shook his head but Fuu raised her hand, "I can do something like that" she said, glancing at the tree the prisoners had been tied to, "It will take a while, and will probably leave me with a sore throat, but I can free the people down there."

"Then do it" Naruto couldn't get more out as he heard a laugh coming from the ground; a rouge had slapped a kid that said that Shibuki would come to them, yet the man was still shaking with fear as he looked at the enemy that outnumbered them. He should have brought the blood clone instead of leaving it to get more money from D-ranks; it would have given them some more manpower. "Shino, start with those bugs, the sooner the better" the Aburame nodded.

A few small dark spots went out from the sleeves of the Aburame, and Fuu was surprised when she saw they were actually a strange kind of beetle. The tanned girl watched as the spots went invisible to her, she assumed they went to annoy the invaders, but she couldn't be sure.

As they waited for whatever was going to happen, Fuu started to gather chakra around her stomach and throat, so she could use the Hijutsu: san no tsuba, a jutsu she had learned from one of the few high-level scrolls that Taki owned. It allowed her to use the acid that the stomach naturally produced, enhance its corrosiveness with chakra and then spit it out before it could damage her. She liked to say that she had it mastered, but the truth was that she had heard of people that could do the jutsu faster and with fewer risks to their health, while whenever SHE did it would leave her sore until her healing dealt with it.

Soon enough, though not as soon as Naruto would have liked, five of the Fuuma fell, he nodded to his teammates. Leaving a shadow clone behind to take care of Shibuki, Hinata, Naruto and Shino jumped down, while Fuu jumped to the tree where the hostages were held.

Hinata engaged in a fight with one of the remaining Fuuma, using her flexibility to dodge the shuriken he threw at her and sealing his tenketsu whenever the opportunity presented itself, eventually shutting his body down, but receiving injuries along her arms and torso, leaving her unable to fight her next battle fully.

Shino engaged with two of them, keeping them at bay with his bugs and hitting them whenever they got close, this repeated itself until both his opponents were down from chakra exhaustion, he himself had lost some beetles from the few water jutsus his opponents had managed to launch..

Naruto entered a fight with the remaining three, making liberal use of the kage bunshin to help him fight, whenever a clone was dispelled another would take its place soon after, that coupled with the relative unpredictability of his taijutsu style allowed him to knock them out after some minutes of battle.

Fuu had released the prisoners, who had, almost immediately, gone to hide in town, far away from where the fight was taking place, and as she had nothing else to do other than wait until an opening presented, she went up to take care of Shibuki and wait for her throat to go back to normal.

Suien laughed, even as he saw his troops fall, it didn't matter, Hisam, Kirisame and Murasame would be more than enough to kill the three brats and he could deal with Shido's brats when the time came, the Hero's Water was just that good, though he would prefer the Jiongu that Kakuzu of the Black Threads had stolen.

"Hahaha, so you beat the Fuuma, so what, even without the Water we are more that powerful enough to deal with you," he said, and the Ame missing-nin behind him smirked arrogantly.

Without thinking, and against all advice his mother and Kurama gave him, he launched himself against the rouge ninja, an enraged expression on what was visible of his face.

His punch was grabbed roughly by a water whip inches from hitting his target. He was back to his teammates as Kirisame pulled on the jutsu.

"You shouldn't even try, just go away and we let you go away with just minor injuries" Suien smiled superiorly at the gennin, only to dodge a kunai to his face, "your doom" he said as he signaled his followers to attack.

They met halfway, Shino crossing Kirisame, Hinata with Hisame and Naruto with Murasame. Up in the tree, Shibuki, who had calmed down some, and Duu watched the fights develop.

* * *

*Naruto vs. Murasame*

"So, the brat thinks he can beat me," Murasame taunted as he held back the kunai the kid had, "How sweet, I'll have you know that I'm way stronger than you"

The gray-haired man pushed Naruto away and nailed him in the face with his forearm, making the red-head's head snap to the side. The Ame-nin followed with a round-house kick that Naruto lessened by pushing chakra out of his arm a few seconds before the kick landed to lessen the damage.

The chakra also had the side effect of pushing Murasame slightly off-balance, something that Naruto capitalized on. Pushing chakra out of his arm to use the momentum, Naruto clawed at Murasame's face, but his hand was caught and the older shinobi threw him over his shoulder.

Righting himself mid-air, Naruto blocked the punches and kicked the Ame-ninja threw at him, wincing when the force behind them was more than what his chakra pushes could slow down.

The red-head caught a kick meant for his chest, losing some air as the force behind it drove his hands to his chest. He felt his weight drop to zero, something they hadn't done since the first fight he had had with Hagane. Gathering all possible strength, Naruto pushed Murasame's leg upwards, and kicked the other from under him.

Murasame was impressed with the brat; his balance had been disturbed five times now, with this one being the second major loss, not even Hisame, the flirtiest woman he had met, could do so with her use of innuendos and use of her suiton: suiben had managed to do so in the time he had been fighting the brat. Catching himself with his hands, he performed a kick that would have made any break-dancer proud, hitting his opponent twice in different parts of his torso.

Naruto felt the air leave his lungs as the kicks impacted, yet he moved in time to dodge a drop kick. He thrust his hands at Murasame's face as the man recovered from his attacks.

His aim was true, as was his timing. Just as the light-haired man finished straightening up a hand nailed him in the solar plexus, followed by another to the collarbone.

A clone appeared behind the staggering man, kicking him in the back and pushing him back to the original red-head. Naruto used kawarimi to get out of the range of the fight, materialized his kogane no buki and went through some hand-seals as he saw his clone get dispelled.

"Suiton: Suichū hari no danmaku" he shouted. Needles rose from the poodles that had formed when one of his teammates or their opponents had been thrown into the lake they were fighting by.

Murasame rolled to the ground as he heard the shout, and just in time as needles made from water passed right above his head a few seconds later. Narrowing his eyes, the missing-nin made his own chain of seals as his brat of an opponent rushed at him. "Doton: Sekisō" a spear made from rock raised itself from the ground and the rouge grabbed it before using it to block a stab that would have caught him in the chest. "Sorry brat, but as I said, I'm too strong for ya" said Murasame.

The man pushed forward with all his strength, making Naruto stumble. Murasame used that moment to hit the kid with the side of his weapon, knocking him away from the battlefield. Smirking, the Ame-nin turned to watch the other two fights.

* * *

*Hinata vs. Hisame*

The older woman had no trouble dodging the attacks coming from the young Konoha-nin, being one of the smartest kunoichi of the Pre-Pein Ame, she had learned to read body language, which allowed to read incoming attacks from all but the best and fastest opponents, something the little girl was not. "Oh come on little girl, is that the best you can do?" That as something she loved, messing with minds.

Hinata was already tired from her fight with the Fuuma from earlier, but didn't let that stop her, her training wouldn't go to waste, not if she had any say in it. With strength she thought had left her and great help of her flexibility, her attacks doubled and her opponent seemed to struggle some when dodging.

"Ah, so the little girl still has a fight, I wonder where you found that strength." Hisame saw Hinata's eyes flicker to the sides, where the older woman saw her teammates fighting, "Ah, so they _inspired _you," The rouge smiled, "Well if you want to impress your teammates you shouldn't hide that figure" She saw a blush begin to rise, and another flicker of her eyes, "If you want someone to notice you start wearing something less baggy and more reviling, you know like my shirt" the woman showed even more cleavage than before.

Hinata felt herself about to faint, something she hadn't done since a couple of years after she made friends with Naruto, activating her byakugan in order to not have to witness the blatant display, she continued her attack with less energy and fierceness, slipping as the older kunoichi continued to tease her as the battle progressed, yet some part of her mind registered and took notes of what Hisame said.

Still, the young Hyuuga stuck to what little her Father actually taught her, with her eyes flaring, she shouted "Hakke sanjuuni sho"

"Ichi sho" Hisame dodged the single strike.

"Ni sho" the kunoichi dodged one and redirected the other.

"Yon sho" two of the palms managed to hit the older woman.

"Hachi sho" three more palms buried themselves into the Ame-kunoichi, the rest were dodged.

"Juu-roku sho" of the sixteen palms only five hit the target tenketsu.

"Hakke sanjuuni sho" twelve of the strikes found their target, with the other being stopped or dodged.

"Well, I've gotta say" Hisame was panting hard as she rubbed the bruised the little girl had given her, "I never expected a Hyuuga, too bad you weren't faster, for you that is" she made hand-seals, in her condition she would have to force it, but the jutsu would beat the little Hyuuga, "Suiton: mizurappa" she spit three consecutive water bullets, throwing the younger kunoichi away and knocking her out.

* * *

*Shino vs. Kirisame*

"C'mon, C'mon, C'mon, attack, I want to hurt you a lot before I kill you" Kirisame was the strange one on his team, because he had been an orphan since his birth, he had no one to teach him. Then Hanzo had told him that his parents had been part of his troops, and he joined the corps. After his first kill his mind had started to loose itself, resulting in a rather bloodthirsty personality.

"Why should I attack?" the ever silent Aburame "The obvious advantage is with you, logically I should tire you out first before giving you the final hit."

"I don't care what you should do, I care about what I will do" Kirisame rushed at Shino, who dodged his initial attack, but was hard pressed to dodge the following ones.

Eventually dodging turned little by little into blocking, which had the fortunate side-effect of leaving kikaichku in the body of the Ame-nin.

As his opponent began to tire out, Shino started to get some hits in, first they were minuscule; a punch in the shoulder, a kick in the shin. But they increased in frequency and intensity; solid kick to the stomach and fists to the chest, yet the crazy Ame-nin took in stride, not letting the hits get to him.

Kirisame was having trouble staying awake as the battle progressed, and he knew that the brat in front of him had something to do with it, so he had to deal with the boy fast. Backpedaling some while flipping through hand-seals for one of his easiest jutsus, he said, "Suiton: atsuryoku nagare no jutsu"

Throwing his hands forward, a pressurized stream of water shot from behind him and sent Shino barreling towards a tree, where the Aburame slammed into the trunk.

As the jutsu ended Kirisame could see Shino sitting there with his shades cracked and his coat in tatters. A maniac laugh escaped the older shinobi, just as he felt what was left of his strength leave him.

Collapsing to his knees, the last thing he saw was the kid he had thrown get covered by a thousand insects.

* * *

*Naruto*

The red-head crawled over to Hinata as he saw Suien approach her. A burst of strength as Kurama's youki entered his system allowed him to stand and limp his way there.

The man watched as the Konoha kid showed some of the strongest wills he had seen as even in his injured state, "Tell me kid, why do you fight so hard?" the spiky-haired man asked.

Naruto glared from where he was standing, never once stopping to rest, "I fight… because you injured innocent people." The red-head kept getting closer to Hinata, "I won't stop fighting until you… are defeated because I promised that I would hep Shibuki"

Suien laughed, as did his two still-standing accomplices "haha, so you promised a coward, he'll run at the first sign of trouble," he had to admit, seeing a brat remain standing made some of his respect go to the kid.

Naruto was recovering some, as the youki got him back to pristine condition, "He's the leader of this village," his words didn't have effect in the missing-nin, but they made Shibuki pay attention to him, "He's meant to fight for his village, even if it kills him," he was standing next to Hinata now, "He may not be very brave, but he has a good heart, as does her sister, even if they hide it" the words struck deep within said people, "I'm not going to let you take the place they love, and I'll fight to the my end if that's what it takes to stop you."

Naruto's eyes changed to a deep red with silted pupils as he stared at the opponents that would no doubt overwhelm him. Yet unknown to him, his previous words tang in the head of both Shibuki and Fuu, who stared at him in shock as he stood defiant.

Shibuki's hands strayed to his leg pouch, close to where he kept the standard issue bottle of Hero's Water, should he drink and risk the same fate as his father?

Fuu felt a headache as her tenant/prisoner made itself known, '_**That**__**boy is Kyuubi's container, kill him, I must defeat the Nine Tails**_' Youki flared inside of her, making her skin scaly and her eyes wider.

Glancing to her left, she saw that Shibuki was holding his bottle to his lips, his face set into a steely expression. He glanced to her and saw that she was semi-transformed. Sharing a nod, the two of them jumped down.

'**Heh, so the Nanabi wants a remach**' thought Kurama as he felt the youki coming from the green-haired girl. Oblivious to this, Naruto looked to his sides and said, "So **you're **joining **the **fight"

Fuu answered, her voice as changed as Naruto's, "Yeah, **we couldn't **leave you **to fight** alone reddie" she smirked, ignoring the screams from her bijuu.

"You said it yourself Naruto" Shibuki's voice was filled with power, a result from drinking the water, "I'm the leader of this village, and I'll die to protect it"

A stare down between the two sides ensued, and Suien used the tense moments to drink from a flask: the Water he had stolen.

Both sides launched toward the center of the plaza.

* * *

**And that closes this chapter, not as I had hoped it ended, but I couldn't bring myself to do it any other way.**

**Don't expect any updates on friday, inspiation has left me since last week and it isn't coming back any time soon,  
**

**On the poll Karin has once again proved to be wanted, and is now just one vote away from Fuu.  
**

**On other news, I'm planning on writting a story for fictionpress, so leave some feedback regarding if I should do it or wait some more.  
**

**San no tsuba: acid spit  
**

**Suiben: water whip  
**

**Suichū hari no danmaku: water needle barrage  
**

**Sekiso: earth spear  
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**Mizurappa: water bullet  
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**Atsuryoku nagare: pressure stream  
**


	26. For what's right

**For what's right.**

*Takigakure no Sato*Afternoon*

Both sides clashed in the middle, each going for the one getting one good strike before changing route and attacking another target.

Clangs of metal and the heavy footfalls from the running shinobi were the only sounds apart from grunts of impacts that could be heard from the plaza, and some of the braver of the villagers could be seen watching from the rooftops.

A brief lull in the battle resulted when they found themselves facing the person they wanted to fight, either for a rematch or for personal reasons.

Once again the fighting started, this time the battles taking place separately.

* * *

*Fuu vs. Hisame*

"I like the way you dress girlie, would you mind if I took your clothes when I kill you?" The two kunoichi were currently in a taijutsu match, neither getting a proper hit without receiving another in return.

"You sound as if you're going to live through this and I'm not" Fuu punched the older kunoichi as said woman hit her in the shoulder.

"Why wouldn't I," Kirisame ducked under an elbow to her throat and tried to kick Fuu's legs from under her, "after all, I'm better than you"

The jinchuriki jumped and kicked forward, nailing the brunette in the chest. The Ame-nin fell backwards and put her hands on the ground, rebounding to kick Fuu in the stomach.

The green-haired girl felt the air leave her, but it came back just as soon as it went, allowing her to block a ball of water that would have caught her middle.

'_So_ _that's how you wanna play huh? I can do that too_' going through the seals for one of her only wind jutsus, she shouted "Fuuton: Daitopa." She blew all the air she had taken the previous breath.

Her attack collided with and stopped a wall of water that would no doubt have her with breathing problems for a while, even in her current state.

They rushed at each other as soon as the attacks left the field, this time with kunai drawn.

Fuu tried to stab her opponent in the gut, but her weapon was parried and she had to block a slash that would have taken her head had she not done it.

The battle continued the same way; Hisame predicting what Fuu would do and the jinchuriki trying to out-maneuver the older woman.

Fuu and Hisame clashed weapons yet again, each struggling to gain the upper hand, neither gaining it for more than a couple of seconds, until the orange-eyed girl smirked.

Hisame didn't know how to react to the smirk, but she sure as hell knew she had lost any chance to gain the advantage as soon as she felt a foot bury itself in her midsection.

When the woman doubled over Fuu didn't ignore the urge that made her knee the downed woman in the face. Hisame hovered a few inches off the ground before she fell forward. Fuu stomped on Hisame's head twice, making the older woman almost lose consciousness.

The green-haired jinchuriki went through hand-seals that would signal the end of the Ame-rouge, "Fuuton: Sakugen" She whispered and made a cutting motion with her hand. The last thin Hisame would ever see would be a blade of wind coming at her.

* * *

*Naruto vs. Murasame*

The red-headed jinchuriki was enjoying this battle, even though the older and more experienced shinobi was giving him barely enough room to counter his attack, he was pretty confident that with the boost Kurama was giving him he was giving the Ame-nin just as much trouble.

It was something he always enjoyed; the adrenaline that filled his bloodstream whenever he was in an even-leveled fight, whenever he was running from the victims of one of his pranks, that's what would always make him enjoy a fight or a chase, sometimes even look for them.

His bloodline had been called some-time during the first part of the last encounter, and he had noticed that it was somehow more like copper in its looks.

Murasame was indeed hard-pressed to not lose the edge he had. Having changed the earth spear for a pole that would be better for blocking the copper claws the brat was now sporting. He was getting a few hits in, but they were almost irrelevant with how fast the brat as healing from the hits.

Blocking yet another double handed slash and watching the red-head's feet, the older man kicked the stomach of the boy, making him slacken the force on the pole. Once again trying the maneuver that granted him his last victory, the rouge pushed with all his considerable strength against the claws that were holding him back.

This time Naruto was not caught off guard, he took a step backwards and blocked the following the blow to the head with his left hand. His right hand came forwards as fast as it could in an attempt to stab Murasame's throat.

The light-haired shinobi dodged the claws as soon as they neared his comfort zone. He punched Naruto in the chest and jumped back.

The Ame-jonin flipped through hand-seals as soon as he was out of Naruto's range, but the gennin did it too. "Suiton: suryudan!" the two of them shouted at the same time.

Twin dragons rose from the lake, followed by a larger one that went in another direction. The two Naruto and Murasame had summoned roared and flew at the humans, clashing mid-air and destroying the opposition

As Naruto panted some from the technique, Murasame went through hands-seals again and shouted "Doton: Doro jūdan no jutsu"

The man spit a giant ball of mud that speeded towards Naruto, who could only run through his head in search of something that would stop it.

_Rasengan_

It could work, but he would need some incredible luck.

_Rotation_

The bullet was coming in fast.

_Power_

His hand started to glow blue.

_Combine both_

His chakra started to spin in his hand, but it wasn't forming anything.

_One for each hand_

His left hand became a blur as the chakra started to spin faster and faster, creating an almost perfect Rasengan. He thrust both hands forward as soon as the sphere was complete.

The Doro jūdan hit the rasengan head-on, making mud spray everywhere, and it was only because of his goggles that Naruto didn't get any in his eyes.

Murasame watched as whatever the red-head had created destroyed one of his techniques, one that even his teammates would have trouble dealing with.

Enraged at being made a fool, the Ame-nin ran towards Naruto, his staff changing into a double-headed spear.

Naruto dodged as the weapon cut the air where his head had been seconds ago, his hand slamming forward without a second thought, the claws in it piercing the shoulder of the older man.

As Murasame clutched his darkening shoulder, Naruto kicked upwards, resulting in a trio of cuts moving from his waist to his chest, all darkening as the corrosive chakra powering the falcon talons coursed through them.

The red-head watched as the blue-haired rouge screamed in agony, a bit disturbed because of how the body of his opponent was going from its normal skin tone to a dark gray in a matter of minutes, killing the older ninja as the corrosion reached his heart.

* * *

*Shibuki vs Suien*

"Give up Shibuki, you may have drank the Water, but I'm still stronger than you" said Suien as he traded blows with the Taki-leader, who was oddly serious.

"I won't give up until you pay for the crimes you've committed against my village" Shibuki dodged under a kunai swipe and tried to cut Suien's side.

"I've already told you Shibuki, that by the end of the day this village will be mine." The spiky-haired shinobi blocked the stab and punched Shibuki in the chest.

The dark-haired man took a step backwards, but countered as soon as he could, punching Suien with a hook that broke his nose.

The bandana-wearing ninja paid no mind to the singing sensation coming from his nose, instead concentrating on his opponent, one that he thought was weaker but had just proved him wrong, if anything, they were equals.

Shibuki made to kick Suien, as the older man ducked the Taki-nin switched legs and with all his weight behind him, kicked Suien in the stomach as the man was righting himself.

Suien changed with a log as he felt the kick land on him, but he did not let that stop him.

Shibuki summoned a water blade as soon as he saw the log that signified a kawarimi, sliding into the stance that was showed to everybody in the academy, only his was modified a bit to suit him better.

The Taki-leader blocked a water sword that would have rid him of his left arm. He pushed forwards as the traitor struggled against him, the sound of water clashing sounding through their ears.

Water droplets jumped around as the blades kept clashing against each other, none managing a proper offensive and staying in the line between attack and defense.

The two jumped back and glared at each other as they went through hand-seals for a jutsu that could end either of them.

"Suiton: Norowa nagare no jutsu" shouted suien.

"Suiton: Suryudan no jutsu" stated Shibuki.

From the mouth of Suien came what could only be described as destruction in a liquid form, water pressured so high that it could cut, yet it was puny compared to the water dragon that Shibuki summoned.

A reptile thicker than thickest tree in Taki and just as big rose from the lake, and with a mighty roar it moved forwards close to the ground, slamming against Suien attack and decimating it with ease.

It reared back as the current slammed against its body. The dragon's head spun in the air, rising higher and higher, until it came down to air with a 'dying' roar, hitting the ground where Suien was standing.

Said ninja could only stare in fright as the construct flew down towards him, and it was only instinct that allowed him to doge, yet it was a second to late and 'mouth' hit his legs, leaving him with no way to move anymore.

Shibuki glared down at the man who had killed his father, "How does it feel, to be in the same position you left me in?" he asked "Defenseless, weak, at the mercy of another man?"

The dark-haired man crouched so he could look at the downed ninja eye-to-eye, "but just like you did" he continued, in a voice that would have frozen hell itself, "I'm going to let you live, though you are going to Konoha's Top Prison"

Suien managed to glare at Shibuki, even as he paled at what could happen to him in The Most Cruel prison of the Elemental Nations.

It was not a good day to be a missing-nin from Taki.

* * *

*Two hours later*Hospital*

Naruto was sitting beside the bed of his teammates, waiting for them to wake up so they could leave before Kurenai-sensei came back, though it almost seemed impossible with his injured teammates.

A rustle from his right made him turn towards Shino, "How are you feeling?"

The logical Aburame spoke lowly, "My limbs are numb, as is my chest; a good rest and some of your chakra will speed my recovery."

It was something they had discovered, the Uzumaki dense chakra could be used by the kikaichku to speed the recovery of an Aburame, even if he couldn't directly inject his chakra into others. Though it had the odd side-effect of making Shino lose his senses for a while.

Hinata sat up on her bed as Naruto turned around, and she could see Shin turning his head for better hearing, "I-I'm sore too, b-but it's going now"

Naruto nodded and proceeded to tell them of the fights they missed.

* * *

*Shibuki and Fuu*

The two of them were having a meal in their house, drinking a cup of tea, "Are you sure about this?" The dark-haired man asked Fuu.

The tanned girl nodded as she put her cup down, "Yeah, we both know that I'm not really liked by many here"

Shibuki sighed, "It could change with what happened today, you know?" he told her, "You helped save the village, the least they could do is give you some recognition"

Fuu shook her head sadly, "If anything I made it worse, yeah I released the hostages, but I also used Nanabi's chakra so…"

Shibuki interrupted her, "The people will be calling out on you" he sighed as she nodded, "I hope I could do more for you"

"We both know you can't, I was doomed as soon as they sealed it" The two lapsed into silence.

After a few minutes later the silence was broken by Shibuki, "alright, you are no longer in service of Takigakure no Sato Fuu, you are to go to Konoha with our allies."

* * *

*That day*Konoha*

Kurenai was on the end of a stare coming from the Hokage, and even if she knew it was no danger to her, she couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Report" Sarutobi's voice was one reserved for this kind of meetings, the ones that could probably affect the village.

"I left them as soon as I read the scroll, leaving them to plan how to continue. The other two chose Naruto as the leader before continuing, on a side note our client liked to tease Naruto-kun a lot.

"When they arrived to the outside of Taki they were cornered by some kids into helping them clean the place, and Naruto-kun made himself a comic release to everyone present.

"Then they entered the village proper and got a tour from the client, meeting the Nanabi jinchuriki along the way. The girl told Shibuki-dono of a threat to the village and the man got my team to help him.

"The threat was a missing nin by the name of Suien and his followers, all from Amegakure. My team followed Shibuki as he 'retreated'

"Naruto had a discussion with the other Jinchuriki, after which a flare went up and the girl agreed to help. The five proceeded to the town plaza where Suien and his followers were taking hostages.

"A battle took place, they eliminated ten of the enemy numbers before losing to some more obviously skilled, Shino-kun managed to eliminate another threat before losing consciousness and Hinata just managing to weaken her opponent, the same with Naruto-kun.

"After that Shibuki-dono, Naruto-kun and the Nanabi jinchuriki each tapped into a secondary power and battled again, this time resulting in two casualties for their enemies and a prisoner.

"Shino-kun and Hinata are resting now; the iryo-nin healed most of their injuries."

Sarutobi listened to the story, inwardly beaming in pride at what the Will of Fire had done to the children, they were shaping out to be quite skilled, he had no doubt that they would surpass the previous generation.

"One more thing Hokage-sama," Kurenai's voice broke his train of thought, "Naruto-kun showed that he could do the Yondaime's rasengan"

Hiruzen felt his eyes widen, what else had the kid taken from the forbidden scroll? "Leave him, as long as he doesn't let witnesses whenever he uses it it's okay" he hoped that Naruto wouldn't meet shinobi from Kumo or Iwa before he made jonin "though it isn't the first time he surprises me" he turned his chair around.

Kurenai recognized the dismissal, as indirect as it was, and left the office. She had to pick up her team.

* * *

**Right, another chapter done. Wish I could have made it longer bu, oh well.**

**Now, before you whine about how I killed off Murasame, the golden weapon is the chakra of the user given physical form, add the corrosive chakra of a Bijuu into the mix, and you get a weapon the poisons the body.  
**

**I've decided to start the story I told you about last week, it should be on fictionpress next monday under the same user name so updates are going to vary in between both stories and will have no fixed date.  
**

**Fuu has goten even further ahead with 29 votes and Karin is second with 25, remember the poll will end in the new year.  
**

**On another note, I fricking hate ants, I have like ten different bites of the fuckers along my arms.  
**

**Daitopa: grat breakthrough  
**

**Sakugen: slash  
**

**Suryudan: water dragon  
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**Doro jūdan: mud bullet  
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**Norowa nagare: cursed flow  
**


	27. The chakra pillar exercise

**The chakra pillar exercise.**

*Naruto's mindscape*

"**Alright Naruto, Now that you've gone up to fifteen meters with the ****kitsune-bi**** I'm going to show how to make a tail"** Naruto was meditating in a training ground as Kurenai-sensei had given them Friday off.

After their mission to Taki, which resulted in Fuu joining Hagane and Haku's team, Kurenai had pushed them even harder in their training, sending Hinata and Shino with another friend of hers while Naruto practiced with his talons with Yuugao.

His rasengan was still imperfect, taking him five seconds to form with both hands, while it should take him less than one with just a hand. He had managed to injure Yuugao during a spar against her, even if it was just a thin cut on her stomach; it was an improvement since he hadn't used Kurama's chakra that time, though he still got cuts and bruises, since the first week Yuugao had stuck with a blunt sword.

"What do you mean 'get a tail'? I ain't no fox dattebayo." His studies with seals had gotten a bit further ahead and he had gotten a resistance seal on his chest, set to give him the equivalent of a beginner's futon: daitoppa attack.

"Yeah, how will he get a tail dattebane?" Kushina had taken to build a house in the middle of his mindscape and make an entertainment/relaxation space in there.

Kurama palmed his face, strong as they might be, both Uzumaki were not the smartest, **"I never said GET a tail, I said MAKE a tail, there is a difference,"** as Naruto raised his hand he continued, **"Unlike my Bijuu brethren and their kin, the Kitsune cannot use techniques through anything other than our tails and mouth, while the others have used their bodies and limbs as catalists."**

Kushina and Naruto looked at each other with question marks over their heads, "WHY?" they asked at the same time

Kurana struck a pose, **"BECAUSE THE POWER OF A KITSUNE IS TOO AWESOME TO CONTROL THROUGH THE BODY"** swetdrops grew on the back of the redheads' heads, and Kurama sat down with a sigh **"In all seriousness, the youki of a kitsune is too thick to control through tenkentsu, it's because of that that you get a cloak of my power when you use it. Since the tailbone and the tails attached to it and the head are as close to one of the ****Hachimon**** as the body allows, it is easier to let masses of youki out and control it since it's spaced out."**

"Is that why your tails are sensitive?" Naruto appeared behind Kurama and started to scratch said appendage.

Kurama started to twitch but managed to control himself for a moment, until Kushina joined her son in scratching, and he was reduced to a pile of goo.

* * *

*Konoha's hot springs

Naruto was sitting in the hot-springs, relaxing after the small progress he had made with the exercise Kurama had given him.

It was called Chakura no chūjō and it was without a doubt the hardest shit he had ever tried, even harder than the rasengan.

Acording to Kurama, it consisted on making a cylinder out of your chakra in any part of your body. Simple enough when put like that, problem was, it was easier to create a sphere with both hands than a pillar with one.

"**When you manage to make a stable-enough pillar and make it as long as you want," **Kurama had said **"Then you can move on to create it over your tailbone"**

He looked at his red hand, where his first attempts had blown up on him, **"When you can make at least one tail that can support your own weight, that's when you can start using it for something else than taijutsu"**

Those words sounded on his head; making him wonder how much time would it take him to get to that level, how dense would the tails have to be?

He sank lower on the water, making it cover up to his mouth.

Kitsunes could only use their mouth and tails for techniques, did that applied to humans too? It made sense if he tought about it: the lowest tier offensive elemental techniques almost always used the mouth; futon: daitppa, katon: gokakyu, suiton: mizurappa and doton: doro judan all used the mouth, ration was the only element that DIDN'T have a technique with the mouth involved, though that was mostly because of the possible risk of electrocution.

It would be awesome though, to be able to use jutsu without hand-seals. The problem was the time it would take, so he would incorporate them into his taijutsu as soon as he could.

"Yo, Megumi-chan how's the water on that side?" he called to the other side of the bamboo fence, where the women's side was.

He heard a splash and grinned, someone was pretty relaxed, "ONII-CHAN, don't surprise me like that!" Megumi screamed at him.

"Oi, reddie, that you?" he heard a voice that wasn't his sister's ask

"Yeah, Fuu, it's me" he answered.

"Heloo Naruto-kun" a second, gentler voice said.

"Yo, Haku-chan" he said, "You didn't answer me Megumi-chan"

"Ah," he could almost feel the annoyance, how good it was to be an older brother, "It's good, Onii-chan."

"So what were you three doing before Megumi-chan fell into the water?" oh yes, the annoyance was clear now.

"Ice-queen and I were talking about the last thing that cougher-sensei taught us, and your sister, though I see no resemblance between you and brownie, was trying to ignore everything"

"Cougher-sensei?" it was amusing how Fuu disrespected anyone but Shibuki, the Taki leader.

"Our sensei is a man by the name of Gekkou Hayate, and has a disease that gives him a chronic cough" said Haku.

"Wait," he had heard that name, once when he had asked Yuugao-nee about her non-ANBU time, "Your sensei is Yuugao-ee's boyfriend".

On the women's side of the onsen, Haku and Fuu looked at each other, "Describe her!" the green-haired girl shouted.

"Purple hair, a sword is always at her side, brown eyes," he told them

"Yeah, her boyfriend's our teacher, Naruto-kun," said Haku.

A silence passed.

"So, Anyone wants to eat ramen 'ttebayo?" he aked.

* * *

*Konoha*Streets*

The chakra pillar exercise, an exercise that could give a human a tail made out of chakra, allowing not seal-less, but rather a different kind of casting, was officially THE most frustrating thing ever.

He had been trying it for over a week, and no matter how much he practiced, the only REAL improvement was that his rasengan was more spherical than before, other than that, NOTHING.

There was also the problem that he hadn't seen ANY jonin-sensei other than Kurenai-sensei for four days, hell he hadn't seen Yuugao-nee in that time. His only guess was that someone important was coming and extra security.

There was also the fact that Kurenai had pushed them harder than ever in training, which was never an inconvenience, considering he had managed to dispel five out of every ten genjutsus his sensei cast on him.

Along with that, he had been spending less time training the 'Konoha Corps', as his sister, Konohamaru and Moegi called themselves.

He and said brats were now walking along the mazes that formed the clan-town entrance, as Naruto wanted to take them to a small island in a lake near the Uchiha-compound.

"Why are we going there Onii-chan?" asked Megumi.

"Good question," said Naruto, "We're going there so you can practice without making me brake a law that says I can't take children out of the village"

The three kids looked at each other and then at Naruto's back, before they ran to catch up to him.

"Alright you three," Naruto began, "you know the storages near the lake?" the kids nodded, "well, we're having a race there; I'll give you a ten seconds advantage."

The children nodded and set off, leaving him leaning on a fence.

All was well until Kono screamed, "Let me DOWN!"

His resistance and weight seals de-activated and he ran full speed towards the source of the shout.

An overgrown, black, humanoid cat was holding Konohamaru by the scruff of his shirt, behind the cat was a girl, a few years older than him, with a light pink dress that reached to her tights, patches of mesh were covering her right arm and left leg, a HUGE fan was on her back and her dark-blond hair was done in four pig tails.

He unsealed some water from his arms and went through hand-seals "Suiton: Suichū hari danmaku no jutsu!" his shout brought the cat's and the girl's attention to him "I would suggest you drop the gaki"

The cat, who he now saw was a boy in a costume, dropped Konohamaru in shock at seeing dozens of needles pointed at him, and even the girl, who was in no danger, looked shocked.

As the Konoha Corps moved behind him he said "State your names, rank and purpose here and I might consider NOT skewering you" a bluff, he couldn't kill in cold blood, but they didn't know that

A spiral of sand appeared between the two foreigners. As the sand fell a boy, this time his age, was revealed, "Kankuro, you are a shame to the village" the cold voice sent shivers down his spine. The kid was wearing a black shirt and shorts, with a beige band along his chest carrying a gourd on his back, his hair was red, a few shade lighter than his own and on his forehead was a tattoo for 'Ai'.

As the boy turned to him, Naruto couldn't help but flinch at the freezing look in them, "I'm sorry for my brother, my name is Sabaku no Gaara, that's Kankuro and the blond is Temari, who are YOU?" Gaara asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Why are you here?" the red-head asked

Temari answered as Gaara stared at Kanuro, ignoring the water needles that could kill him in seconds, "We're gennin from Sunagakure, and we're here for the chunin exams"

Naruto nodded, having no idea what the chunin exams, '_they are something every gennin has to take to raise to chunin_' never mind then.

"Consider this a warning, we may be allies, but attacking a citizen of Konoha, Sandaime-sama's grandson no less, will not go unpunished again" that should discourage them, though maybe not the red-head.

"I shall see you again, Uzumaki" yes, Gaara was creepy, "You are interesting, I look forward to fighting you" the three Suna-nin left the corridor.

"O-Onii-chan, that man was scary" The three kids were shivering

"Yes Megumi-chan, he was" the Uzumaki answered "he was"

* * *

**Cut.**

**I didn't plan on starting the exams yet, but since I can't come up with an original mission I'll leave it at that. On the other hand, after the invasion there are going to be mostly original arcs.  
**

**My story in fiction press is now up under the FANTASY archive with the author name 'Crazyjames', Go check it out and tell me what you think.  
**

**Fuu is still at the top with 32 votes, seven ahead of Karin, which goes to show the greenette is more liked.  
**


	28. Chunin exams begin

**Chunin exams begin.**

*Konoha*Ninja academy*

Team eight was sitting in the corner of the room they were supposed to wait for the chunin selection exams to begin.

Standing directly across them was the team Naruto had met the day before: the Suna siblings.

"What do you think we'll have to do?" Asked Naruto while staring at his fellow red-head and jinchuriki.

"The name says it, it is logical that we will have a test" answered Shino, who was scouting the classroom with his kikaichku, "Considering we are in the academy, a written one is the most obvious".

Teams from mostly small villages were there; Twenty each from Kusa, Taki and Ame and only one from each Suna and Otogakure, a new village that established itself in the Land of Rice Paddles.

Hinata looked around "Th-there are m-more K-Konoha ninja than others" she said.

Naruto counted what teams with the leaf insignia he could see; thirty-eight, one was Ten-Ten and Lee's team, another one was his.

The young Uzumaki looked at the competition, trying to gauge the skills of the enemy. The Ame ninja caught his attention; considering he had fought a squad of rouges from that village, he could only hope that the standards from that village weren't as high as the ones in Konoha.

A team from Kusagakure also caught his attention: His Uzumaki sensing abilities (Something that EVERY Uzumaki developed at some point of their lives, be they young or old) were going haywire with one of the members; the woman of the team was alternating between reserves as big as some civilian-born-shinobi out of the academy and a ninja as powerful as his jiji, who had the biggest reserves he had seen (His own reserves were on par with a ninjutsu-specialized jonin, thanks to his heritage and as thick as syrup thanks to Kurama; his control still SUCKED in comparison of both the former and the latter, so he couldn't go as long as either without suffering chakra exhaustion because he tended to overpower stuff).

His sensing was a bit strange; a combination of both the Inuzuka sense of smell and the Hyuuga chakra vision, his nose sensed how thick the chakra was and his 'mind's-eye' saw how big the reserves were. It was incomplete according to one of the few still-intact scrolls he found on Uzu (he hadn't managed to open the 'Might of the Swirling Tides' scroll yet, the seals covering it were still giving problems (really, the damned matrix on the scroll was so complicated not even his Kaa-san could know how many fail-safes the scroll had)) the complete sensing abilities were meant to feel even the nature and personality of the owner.

"Why are s-staring at th-that Suna boy, N-Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.

"That boy has REALLY thick chakra" the blue-eyed boy replayed, "not as thick as mine, but really thick, 'ttebayo."

The difference between chakra thickness and chakra reserves was big, but it still was ignored by many: the thickness could NOT be changed, you were born with a thickness determined and your chakra would stay just as thick for the rest of your life; reserves on the other hand could be increased with exercise or studying. Thickness determined the power in a volume of chakra, whereas reserve size determined how long you could go without having to rest.

"Indeed" said Shino, "In comparison to Naruto-san's syrup-like chakra, his is like miso soup."

Hinata took a look at Gaara with her byakugan "H-his reserves are t-twice as big as Neji-nii-san's" it should be noted that Hyuuga Neji had enough reserves to outlast Izumo and Kotetsu, the 'Eternal Chunin' guards, in a fight. Izuma and Kotetsu had acquired a C-rank chakra reserve tank by exercising constantly; Neji had them on the same rank, only on the high end of it.

Team eleven chose that moment to enter the room; almost every foreigner glared at them, they ignored everyone.

Naruto waved at them after standing up, beckoning them to come with him, "Yo', Haku-chan, Hagane-sempai, Fuu-chan" he said once they were close.

"Yo Reddie, Blind Eyes, Bug Boy" said Fuu, to the chagrin of both Hinata and Shino, who hadn't spent nearly as much time with the greenette as Naruto and weren't used to her informal style of addressing.

"Ohayo Naruto-kun, Hinata-san, Shino-kun" Haku as always, was the calmest of the team, but that was easy to say, considering she had two really childish teammates.

"Yo Naruto, Shino, Hinata" Hagane looked as if he wanted to jump on the many kunoichi in the classroom, since his head was swirling around and never staying in the same spot.

"Hagane-sempai, you really shouldn't be perving right now" Naruto, even though he was a really good friend of the metal body user, couldn't understand WHY he had to try so hard at getting a girl when he had known Haku half his life.

"Ah, but the fairer sex calling for me" said Hagane

Fuu chose that moment to punch Hagane "As if anyone would like you Tetsu-hentai"

The copper-haired kid rubbed the lump on his head, a tear waterfall falling from his eyes "Why must Fuu-chan be so mean"

This had happened every time Naruto had spent time with the group, and because of that he was only amused when the young Kinzoku latched onto Fuu with his 'Hug of Doom' and consequently kicked in the balls, though every other male that saw it could only wince.

Sabaku no Gaara only put more sand on the area, to prevent it from damage.

Naruto, having seen this many times in the past, could only wonder why the older teen still did it, his only guess was that he could change even those parts of his body.

'_**I wouldn't be surprised if he learned to reinforce that part of his anatomy'**_ Kurama piped up, '_**considering how many times a day he is kicked**_' Words of wisdom from a mighty beast.

Listen: The Chunin exams are held twice a year in different countries, this was the winter one and the one in the summer had taken place in the Village Hidden in the Rocks, because of the location Kumo was the only other Great Village that had taken part in them. Kumo and Iwa were both in bad terms with Konoha; the former because of a political scandal involving Hinata some years ago and the latter because the Yondaime had killed half an army in a spawn of seconds during the Third Great Ninja World War.

It was because of this that only the Minor Villages took part in EVERY Chunin Selection Exams and that confrontation between Konoha and Kumo or Iwa tended to end in death.

Funny how the hatred worked.

Soon enough he saw other rookie teams enter: team ten entered seven minutes after team eleven did; Shikamaru and Choji talked with Naruto, Shino and Hagane and Ino talked with Hinata, Fuu and Haku while she waited for 'her Sasuke-kun' to arrive; She was NOT amused with how Fuu addressed her.

Team nine and seven were the last to arrive, the latter coming first. Sasuke was lucky enough that he had expected Ino to jump on him as soon as he entered, as such he dodged the blond Yamanaka and said girl found herself in the arms of one Inuzuka Kiba, who found himself, unknowingly, in the same position Hagane had assumed before his patented move.

"Heh, so all the rookies are in this" He wasn't really surprised; most clan heirs were in his class and Konoha had a reputation to uphold. He wouldn't be surprised if at least two were promoted.

"Mendokuzei, our sensei said he thought we were ready" A Nara in his natural laziness.

"Same with Kakashi-sensei," said Kiba "though I think he just wanted to read his book in piece"

Let be known that Hatake Kakashi was an avid follower of the Icha Icha series.

"My sensei's pervert" Sakura muttered

"You should probably quiet down now" Said a teen "you wouldn't want to make yourselves a target."

Indeed, they had the entire room staring at them, and Naruto could feel some KI; not enough to frighten him though, he had had a glaring match with his mother after all.

The teen was pretty average; other than his glasses and white hair there was nothing that would make him stand out.

"And you are?" Asked Kiba.

"Ah, my name is Kabuto" the teen said "I would like to offer some advice to you rookies"

"What advice can YOU give Pokémon?" asked Fuu

Kabuto twitched at the nickname, "I'd like it if you called me by name"

"Yeah well do you prefer Pikachu?" she asked.

"I'm rather partial towards Charizard" said Naruto

"Nah, I prefer Growlie" said Kiba.

"I myself am a big fan Gyrados" Said Hagane.

"I PREFER WOBOFET" a voice shouted from the room

"Well nobody asked you!" Fuu shouted back

Kabuto cleared his throat, a vein throbbing on his forehead, "As I was saying" he said "I would like to offer my help as a veteran of these exams," he held up a deck of cards "with this"

"You want us to play poker with you" Naruto shook his head, "Nah, Iruka-nii-san told me about the three shinobi vices"

Kabuto twitched again "They are info-cards" he said annoyed "with information on everyone taking the exams"

This caught their attention, why wouldn't they want information after all.

"Do you have anything on Sabaku no Gaara?" Naruto was honestly dreading confrontation with his fellow red-head: who wouldn't with the bloodlust of said boy.

"Huh, you know his name, how boring" Kabuto channeled some chakra on a card, "Sabaku no Gaara, gennin from Suna with the ability to control sand, probably a variation of his family's 'jinton' that allows them to control a metal dust of their chosing, his teammate are also his siblings; Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Gaara and his sensei is a family frien named Baki, He has no D-ranks under him, but almost fifty C-ranks, close to twenty B-ranks and, wow, FIVE A-ranks. Piece of trivia, he's never received an injury during missions."

"Do you have some Rock Lee in there?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I worked with his team once" said Kabuto, changing cards, "Rock Lee, pupil of Maito Gai and teammate to Higurashi Ten-Ten and Hyuuga Neji, Has completed over a hundred D-ranks and almost thirty C-ranks. Born a few months before October tenth thirteen years ago, it is unknown if his inability to channel chakra is due to overexposure to the Kyuubi's chakra or a birth deficit; because of this condition his abilities in both genjutsu and ninjutsu are nonexistent, though his apprenticeship under 'The Mighty Green Beast of Konoha' makes him a juggernaut capable of outrunning and outlasting Uzumaki Naruto, known for having outrun several ANBU squads after his prank"

Naruto nodded, proud at his accomplishment, though not so much for being beaten by Lee. "Yeah, we made a bet to see who lasted longer" he said, "Man took his weights off and ran like hell around the city"

"So you have Info on every village too?" Sakura asked

"Yep" said Kabuto "From the gennin of Konoha to the vicious Ame to the small and unknown village of Otogakure"

"You hear that" said an almost lion-looking man to his partners, "Four eyes said we're small, let's prove him that that doesn't mean weak"

The leader ran forward towards the Konoha group, his right arm cocked back and ready to strike at Kabuto.

Kabuto leaned back and let the fist pass inches from his face "I may be gennin still, but I'm more…" whatever Kabuto was about to say was interrupted by his glasses braking and him puking.

"You like that" the Oto leader sneered "Never underestimate an enigma, it may just be your end"

'_I don't understand, he dodged it'_ thought every Konoha gennin.

Only Naruto got an answer _**'I understand that a genjutsu could make him throw up,'**_ Kurama said _**'My best bet is that whatever he has in his arm is at fault'**_ It was a gauntlet, with holes in it, all of different sizes.

A poof of smoke rose from the center of the room, "ALRIGHT MAGGOTS SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" a man wearing dark clothing with a bandana-style Konoha hitai-ate shouted "FORM A LINE AND MOVE TO THE FRONT, THE CHUNIN SHIKEN START RIGHT NOW!"

* * *

**And that's that, I'm going to skip the first exam because I honestly hate it.**

**I would like to thatnk all of you who have reviwed, followed or favorited this story, It's awesome for me that in only three months I already have 41 reviwes, 134 followers and 115 favorites; not the most popular story out there, but it makes me happy that it is this liked.  
**

**Alright now that the mushy stuff is out of the way, the poll is probably going to be closed by the next time I update so make sure you vote before that, the results are still the same as the last time, so nothing to report on that.  
**

**Now, to get in the Christmass spirit, here's a son I found:  
**

**_Deck the halls with_**  
**_Ga-so-li-ne_**  
**_Fa lalalalalalalalalal lalalala_**

**_Light a match and watch it_**  
**_Glee-eam_**  
**_Fa lalalalalalala_**

**_Watch the hideout burn to_**  
**_Ashes_**  
**_Falalal lalalalalalala_**

**_Aren't you glad you played_**  
**_With matches_**  
**_Falala la la lalalala_**

**_BOOM!_**

******I don't really have to tell you who the song was made for, so I'll just leave with these words: ART IS A BANG  
**


	29. Second exam: Forest of Death

**Two weeks since the last update, check foot-notes for the reason.**

* * *

**The second exam: Enter the Forest of Death**

*Training ground #44*Konoha*4 hours to dusk*

It was a beautiful day in the village of Konoha: the birds were singing, the sun was shining bright, the sky was clear and the forests that surrounded the village were full of life.

This image of a perfect day had no value to the 72 students that had passed the first part of the Chunin Selection Exams, who were staring at a monstrosity in the form of a forested training ground.

The first thing that passed through Naruto's mind upon seeing the giant trees was: '_damn, the things are as tall as Kurama_'. Indeed, the training ground 44 was house of the biggest trees in fire country, courtesy of the large quantity of chakra that the Shodaime Hokage had imbued in the land.

"Welcome to the place for the second part of the chunin exams maggots" the proctor for the time being, Mitarashi Anko, said, "Konoha's training ground number forty four, or as I like to call it; the forest of Death" as if to put emphasis a big roar echoed from inside the fence surrounding the forest.

Mitarashi Anko was a sadistic person who liked to both mentally and physically torture people, this showed on her style of dress: a mesh suit, a mini-skirt and a trench-coat; this was to torture men in the field, so they would be distracted while thinking of possibilities and had no time to put a defense before they died, it also worked on a small number women.

The reason she was proctoring the second exam was because the Hokage had told her it would take place in 'her home'.

"If I hadn't been in worse places, I would be scared" thought Naruto out loud, to the shock of those around him. His eyes gained a far-off look and he shivered, "Never again"

It was rather unfortunate that Anko heard him.

A shout of surprise left his mouth as a kunai passed inches from his head; it was only his incredible luck that left him with only a line of blood in one of his 'whiskers.'

A kunai appeared in his hand as soon as he felt a presence behind him, and only the kunai on his throat, a hand on his wrist and the soft thing pushing against his back stopped him from stabbing whoever was behind him.

"You shouldn't say such things gaki" he looked to his right to see the purple-haired konoichi resting her head on his shoulder, "after all, this place has a reputation of killing rookies like you" she licked the line of blood on his cheek, slightly surprised to see the wound already closed.

Naruto blushed 'Hinata red.' Across the crowd Fuu thought _'wonder if I could do that with him'_ a grin spread across her face, making Haku and Hagane to step away.

Hinata's thoughts were along the lines of _'S-she's a slut_'. Shino just pondered on what his friend do would. Most males wished themselves on Naruto's position, without the pointy weapons.

As he felt yet another presence com dangerously close to them (he wasn't really sure if he wanted to defend the crazy proctor) Naruto summoned another kunai, this time on his left hand, and used his considerable flexibility to swing it without hurting the woman still pressed against his back.

Anko seemed to sense the approaching person too, since the hand holding his right wrist grabbed the kunai and she thrust it over her shoulder, "It would be good to your continuing health" she said, watching the wo/man who had the kunai she had thrown on her…TONGUE? "If you didn't try to snick up on me, _maggot_"

'_That is WAY too creepy_' thought Naruto.

'_**Agreed,'**__ '__Yes it is_' said his tenants

"Sorry, I just wanted to give you your kunai back" IT said, "I got a bit…overexcited" It was even creepier with the fact that he was speaking with the tongue out.

Anko eyed the Kusa gennin wearily, "Just make sure it doesn't happen again"

She shunshined to the top of the fence shortly after the strange human left, "Alright maggots, for the next FIVE days," she started "this forest will be your home; you have to complete a task during that time and head to the center of the training ground as soon as you accomplish it!"

Anko looked for something inside her trench-coat, making some of the men there to gain nosebleeds, "here it is" she mumbled, smirking at the reactions she got, "Your objective is to get one of each of this scrolls, the Tsuchi scroll and the Tengoku scroll," Her smirk turned cruel, "there are only twelve sets of scrolls, but I don't think that all sets will make back to the tower."

"Are there any rules?!" someone asked

"Glad you asked" she smiled an evil grin, "Rule #1: you can't get out of the training ground until after 120 hours since the time you entered have passed. Rule #2: if ANYONE on your team is unable to move on, ALL of you are out. Rule #3: Unless the whole team has both scrolls they won't be able to enter the tower in the center of the forest. Final rule: You can't open the scrolls in the forest, otherwise BAD thing may happen" she counted the rules of her fingers, her grin stretching as they glanced horrified at the forest behind her.

"WHAT ABOUT FOOD?!" asked Choji

"Well, there are lots of different animals in the forest, I'm sure you can find something to eat

The purple-haired woman jumped down, landing gracefully on her feet, "One last thing" she held some papers on her hand "You have to sign this legal papers to make sure the village doesn't get sued"

"WHAT DOES IT SAY?!" a background voice asked.

"Well, it says that we aren't to blame if you die" her brown eyes glinted with sadistic glee, "because trust me, there will be deaths"

Two chunin, Izumo and Kotetsu, shook their head in synch at her antics, before slowly walking around, handing the waiver.

Once everyone had theirs, Izumo spoke "Alright, you have ten minutes to fill it out, after the FIRST bell rings you're going to form a line by teams and we're giving you one scroll."

Kotetsu picked it up from there, "Each scroll has a number, that's the gate you're entering the forest from, you have half an hour to make your way there and make a plan."

The two spoke in perfect synch "When the SECOND bell rings, you'll enter the forest and start your mission, after that, it is free-for-all"

Naruto unsealed some pens from his arms (he really needed to check them, to make sure there wasn't too much junk in them) and passed them to his teammates, they then proceeded to fill it out, Naruto and Hinata both paling at some of the things it said, '_Who would be sick enough to do THAT'_ the three of them thought, yes, even Shino when his bugs passed the text along.

Five minutes of mental torture later, the three had filled out their waivers and were standing a few feet away from the tent that Izumo and Kotetsu had gone into.

"You know guys" the three looked at team 11 as they approached "I really hope we don't meet until the third part of this thing" said Hagane.

"Yeah, I want to fight Reddie one-en-one" said Fuu

"I just want to fight all three of you, I don't care when as long as it's one-on-one" nodded Naruto

"A-ano Naruto-kun" stuttered Hinata, "I-I think we sh-shouldn't fight them in there"

"Indeed Naruto, we don't know if we would win" said Shino

"I must agree with Shino-san and Hinata-san in this, Hagane-kun, Fuu" said Haku.

"Oh come on Ice-princess, you want to fight Reddie too" said Fuu

"You know I don't like fighting friends" the last Yuki answered

"And yet you can be so mean to me" sniffed Hagane

"That's because you're a pervert" said his teammates, and Naruto found himself nodding.

A voice from the tent stopped Hagane from responding "Alright minasan, come for your scroll"

Naruto, Hinata and Shino beat team eleven to the tent, handed over their waivers and got a Tsuchi scroll, along with the number thirty-five.

They went to their entrance after saying goodbye to team eleven, and sat down after arriving.

"W-what are we g-going to do in there?" asked Hinata, slightly unnerved by the atmosphere the forest gave off.

"I say we find a team, have Shino's kikaichku drain them, and you and I finish them" said Naruto.

"A logic strategy, though finding the Tengoku scroll will be mostly chance" nodded Shino.

Naruto agreed, but being himself he said "Meh, we all know I'm a lucky bastard"

The chunin standing near the gate snorted, "Yeah, you have luck alright, though not always good gaki"

"IT WAS ONE TIME!" Naruto didn't remember his first time using itching powder fondly.

"And everyone that was present still tells the story in parties" replied the chunin.

"Ass" muttered Naruto.

'_LANGUAGE!_' his mother shouted at him.

Kurama just laughed his tails off remembering that day.

Hinata and Shino just watched confused since they didn't know of what the other two were talking about.

Regaining his composure, Naruto looked at his teammates "If we get separated, we'll meet at the tower, OK?" he said.

"It is a logical place to rendezvous" said Shino.

"A-and if one of us gets lost?" asked Hinata.

"Then we search" answered the red-head-

Anko's voice broke through the silence that ensued "ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, THE SECOND PART OF THE CHUNIN SHIKEN STARTS NOW" the bell rang as soon the proctor finished talking and the chunin opened the gates.

"Good luck!" he shouted as they ran past him "you'll need it to survive in there"

* * *

**Here it is: CoD Black ops 2, NFS Most Wanted 2012, Ninja Gaiden 3, Halo 4 and Assassin's creed 3.**

**Here are my commentaries on the games as a rabbit fanboy (DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'VE PLAYED THE GAMES ALREADY):  
**

**CoD: Die you goddamn zombies, I'll kill you like I killed Menendez!  
**

**NFS: OH so I can change my car but not make it look badass? THE FUCK (I least I don't have to buy them, and the in-pursuit repair is a good thing).  
**

**Ninja Gaiden: WHAT THE HELL; THE ONLY TRUE WEAPON IS A SWORD?! THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY TONFAS, I WANT MY TONFAS BACK; ONLY ONE NINPO?! I WANT MY FUCKING WIND-BLADES; HEALING, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE HERBS, TO THE ELIXIRS, TO THE MUSHROOMS?! I WANT THE DAMN FIENDS BACK.  
**

**Halo: CORTANA! WHY, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE?! DON'T GO CHIEF! AND WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE REST OF THE WEAPONS?!  
**

**AC: "SHHHHH, I'm hunting wabits" (stalks through the forest). Oh he died, damn (Talking about Desmond)  
**

**Now, as disappointed as I am at Ninja Gaiden 3 for the lack of fiends, objects, ninpos and weapons, it's actually a pretty good game and the gameplay is only a few ways behind the second game, which is my favorite of the trilogy.  
**

**On the Halo front, the only thing I didn't like is the fact that Cortana 'died', that Chief retired (which may mean the end of the games) and that there weren't more weapons aviable, other than that it's an awesome game.  
**

**The only thing that could make AC better would be that you could carry a heavy weapon and a sword at the same time.  
**

**My only serious comment on NFS is that I do miss the 'auto-sculpt' from the 'Carbon' game and the safe house, even if it could only be used to check stats.  
**

**CoD Black ops 2 is honestly the best CoD since 'World at War' in my opinion, especially since Menendez is THE Mindfucker, favorite villian of the games, that's for sure (Woods 'Nah, I'm just lazy as hell,' laughed my ass off in that part).  
**

**Now the poll has closed; Fuu won with thirty-seven votes, Karin was second with 28 and Shizuka third with 22.  
**

**Honoka will meet Naruto during the three-year training trip, as will Shizuka; the former will be more sister-like and the latter will be more of a rival; only Honoka will go to Konoha (I just noticed that 'Honoka' is 'Konoha' with two letters changed) and Shizuka will only make a second appearance during the Forth Great Ninja World War.  
**

**Karin will meet Naruto, but it will be brief and only enough so that she will recognize his 'feel' later on, you'll see what I have planned.  
**

**Yakumo will not join the ninja-corps, but she will make appearances from time to time, most likely in a civilian job.  
**

**Tayuya will be a surprise, and I will give thanks to 'Gento70' for the idea he gave me on what to do with her.  
**

**Ayame will continue appearing as she always has but won't have romantic interest for Naruto, again it's a surprise what I've planned for her.  
**

**Temari will make he cannon appearances and maybe some more, depends on how the story advances.  
**

**Every other girl won't appear until after their cannon arcs (other than Fuka) as part of a division OR as a medic or volunteer.  
**

**Well, That's all for now, stay tuned.  
**

**Ja ne  
**


	30. Hunt for the scroll set

**The hunt for the scroll set**

* * *

***Forest of death*Two hours to dusk***

Team eight ran through the tree-top, maneuvering between branches, each using their respective tracking techniques to find a team.

'_The Yondaime's technique helps a lot with the Uzumaki senses'_ thought Naruto, '_make it easier to feel, even if I can only use it when I land_'

'_Tell me when you find something within range_' Shino ordered his insects.

"I-I see something by the edge o-of my byakugan" Said Hinata.

Her teammates nodded, "Team or animal?" asked Naruto.

She squinted, "I-I don't know, but th-there are many signatures" she said.

"Then it's either a group or an animal pack" said Naruto, "YOSH! Hinata take us there dattebayo"

She nodded and went to the right with her next jump, Shino and Naruto following behind her. It was the first time she had ever taken the lead in a formation.

* * *

***Clearing a few miles north*Hour and a half until dusk***

A group of six unmasked Ame gennin were talking with each other, having decided to ally themselves to ensure victory, "Alright, this is going to be both easier and more difficult than before" the others nodded "we need to find a full set, so I suggest we hide and wait until the third day, when almost everyone will be done for"

"Hey Tori, you alright?" one of them asked to another.

"Yeah, just a bit faint" Tori answered.

"It's this things fault" a dark-haired boy held out an engorged leech that had been sucking on Tori's neck, much to the disgust of the two girls in the group.

A brown-eyed kid lifted his shirt up, "GAH!" to find twenty leeches on his chest and stomach.

Everyone else lifted some part of their clothes to find at least fifteen leeches latched onto them. Shortly after the things started to fall from the sky, knocking them to the floor and leaving them unable to lift themselves up or take the insects off.

The last thing Tori saw before losing consciousness was a red-head, a blue-haired girl and a brown-haired shade-wearing teen.

"You know Shino" said Naruto as he looked around "If it weren't this effective, I would find your method incredibly disturbing" the red-head took a leech and launched it away before it could latch unto him, "How much blood did they drain?" asked the purple-eyed boy.

"I told them to drain enough blood" answered the Aburame, "They shouldn't wake up until after the third day finishes"

"Damn, that's a lot blood" Naruto shook his head, "Whatever let's just pick the scroll and go to the tower, hopefully there'll be some ramen there."

Naruto searched the bodies, oblivious to the stares on his neck.

* * *

***Team eleven*some time earlier***

A Kusa team that had stopped between trees to discuss their plan of action, even though it was more of a fight.

"And I'm telling you we should ambush someone near the tower and get the Tsuchi scroll there" said the girl of the team.

"But how do know we can defeat someone who has already beaten someone else already," argued one of her teammates.

"Because they will be tired from running" answered the third gennin.

"Not you too, c'mon man, tell her that her idea is stupid" whined the first male.

"But that way we'll have an easier fight, maybe even no fight at all" argued the girl.

"You're just scared of breaking your nails fighting"

The third teammate would never admit it in public, but the only reason he put up with the constant bickering was because it was just so amusing.

However, "If you two are done fighting, we have company" he pointed upwards.

The three jumped out of the way of a falling object, just managing to avoid being hit by whatever it was that had been launched at them.

A pillar made completely out of metal was stuck on the earth in front of the Kusa team, and standing on top of it was team eleven in all their glory.

"Heh, and here I thought I fought too much with my teammates, I pity your sensei" said Hagane.

"Screw the teacher; I pity Brownie there for having to put up with it" Replied Fuu.

"Could you two please concentrate? I would like to take the Tengoku scroll they have as soon as possible" said Haku

The three Kusa-nin looked at each other and grinned, "You thinking what I'm thinking Hikari, Akai?"

"We think so Ao" the two said at the same time.

"Haku, Take the girl, Fuu, Brownie, I'll take Blue" said Hagane, going into battle mode.

The two girls nodded, taking each of their opponents away from the others.

"You know, it would save your life and that of your teammates if you just handed me the scroll you have" said Hagane "Tetsu no teashi" his hands changed into knifes.

"How do you know I have it?" asked Ao.

"I don't, but I like a good fight" Hagane grinned

Hagane threw himself at Ao, his transformed arms one behind the other and positioned to kill in just one strike.

Ao spun on his heel, avoiding the knifes by millimeters. He used the momentum to keep spinning and deliver a kick to the back of Hagane's neck, but the steel-eyed boy rolled and avoided the kick.

His grin still in place, the young Kinzoku thrust his arms forward screaming "Tetsuo: KISHIN" the spearhead launched themselves from his arms.

Ao ducked under the spear barrage, covering his head as to avoid more damage.

Hagane though had other plans, "Tetsuo: Tekken" was the last thing Ao heard before his rib-cage was smashed.

* * *

***Haku***

The last of the Yuki threw senbon after senbon at her opponent, the girl that had been arguing with her teammate. Sometimes she was glad she had taken anatomy as her chosen field, it made the weapons she used so much more effective.

She would also have to thank Naruto for the seals he had tattooed on her wrists, she was sure she would have gran out of needles if he hadn't insisted on making seals for everyone on her team (Though she was sure Hagane kept some of those awful books in his, the pervert).

Hikari could only dodge the senbon because she was sure that the second she stopped moving she would be hit and it would be game over, but she was getting tired, and it would only be a few minutes more until she couldn't go on.

"I'm afraid this must end now" said Haku as she gathered the moisture of the forest "Suiton: Paisu yari no jutsu" several spears made of water appeared around Hikari and impaled her. It was only Haku's reluctance to kill that saved the girl from dying. She shivered as the spears dissolved, She would have to go into the medical program soon, she wasn't a front-line fighter.

* * *

***Fuu***

"Stay still you damn brownie!" Fu shouted at her dark-skinned opponent, slashing with her water-sword at the Kusa-nin

"First you're as much a brownie as I am" Akai told her, moving out of the way of the blade seconds before it hit him, "second if I stopped moving you would kill me" he ducked under the water-blade, bending at the waist.

Fuu chose that moment to kick his feet from him, making him lay with his feet on his back, his knees and ankles bent further than they should be.

Akai screamed in pain.

His agony stopped when the mint-haired girl kicked his face and knocked him out.

"Huh, must have hurt a lot," said the orange-eyed girl as she searched his body, "as long as it isn't me" she smirked as she held the Tsuchi scroll in her hand.

"Better get back to the other two" she said to herself.

* * *

***Team eight***

"Don't move, don't even breathe until they leave" The three were hiding in the bushes of one of the few big clearings of the forest of death.

The reason they were hiding was no more than a few feet away from them: the gennin team from Suna was having a stare-off with a team from Ame.

"Gaara, we should just leave them, we already have both the scrolls we need" said Temari, the eldest of the team.

"Temari is right Gaara, we should go to the tower alredy, no need to fight more than necessary" Said Kankuro.

"Temari, Kankuro, shut up" the two nodded, afraid of their brother's wrath, "They looked at me wrong, now they will pay"

The leader of the Ame team scoffed, "you heard that Baiu, Midare?" the leader asked, "How about we show the brat what happens when they cross us.

The three Ame ninja jumped and took their umbrellas from their back and opening them in the apex of their flight.

Thousands of needles rained upon the Sand Siblings, kicking dust up when they hit the ground.

"Make sure you search the bodies thoroughly when the dirt gets down" Shigure said to his teammates "The more scrolls we have the better"

When the dirt finally settled the Ame ninja started walking, only too stop on their tracks when they saw an eye picking through a wall of sand, "Mother wants blood" Gaara held his hand "Sabaku Kyū" the three Amen in were encased in sand with only their faces visible, "You shall prove my existence" his tone held as much glee as it possibly could "Sabaku Sōsō" Gaara tightened his fist.

The sand that encased the Ame gennin imploded, showering the clearing with blood.

"Well, now that they are death can we pleas go on?" Gaara ignored his sister in favor of staring at the bush team eight was hiding at.

'_Don't search, don't search, for The Log, The Ramen and Inari-sama, please don't search_' ran along the same lines of those of his teammates.

Gaara turned their back on them, moving towards the center of the tower, "Kankuro, Temari, we're moving" He never glanced back as he knew his siblings would follow him, if not because of respect, then because they were afraid of him.

'_Kuram, if I'm ever in a fight with HIM, give me all the chakra I can handle_' said Naruto.

'_**If you are ever in a fight with that boy Naruto, you will need more skill in fuinjutsu than raw power**_' said Kurama, '_**You can't hope to defeat him should HE take over**_'

'_HE? Who is HE?_' asked Kushina, Naruto agreed with her.

'_**HE is what makes you like that pale-boy**_' at the confusion he still felt from Naruto Kurama said '_**I hope you don't have to find out what I'm talking about in the middle of a fight**_'

Naruto shook his head and took to the trees, his teammates some ways behind him.

* * *

**That is the first part of the forest of death, next part will be next week.**

**Now, some of you may, and probably will, whine about why I made the three fights so short; that is because team eleven are all on the upper end of the C-rank, bordering on B-rank yet still hard-pressed to beat a real B-ranked shinobi, Haku and Hagane because they were trained to the Mid-C-rank by Zabuza much like Fuu was because of what she learned in Taki, add to that three months from Nami to the exams being trained by an A-ranked jonin should be enough to reach that level if they started training at 8-9 years old.  
**

**Naruto is at their level, being constantly trained since age eight by his mother and the academy and later by Kurenai too, adding more control to what he already knew and learning two advanced techniques: one A-rank (rasengan) and one B-rank (kitsune-bi).  
**

**The rest of the rookie nine are firmly in the mid-C-rank, while Neji and Lee are with Naruto and team eleven.  
**

**Also, the only the only way to measure power is by numbers (1-10 per art, 1-50 overall). We don't actually know WHEN you pass from one rank to another. In this story you double your overall strenght each rank (D-rank 1, C-rank 2, B-rank 4, A-rank 8, S-rank 16 and SS-rank 32) which is my theory on why it takes a whole chunin squadron to take down a single ANBU.  
**

**I hope that clears it up.  
**


	31. The snake

**The snake**.

* * *

***Forest of death*second day*noon*Team seven***

If there was one thing that Inuzuka valued above all else, it was loyalty. Because of this the clan allied themselves with dogs: They were loyal, they were strong and they would never let a friend fight alone.

Inuzuka Kiba was the son of the Alpha of the Inuzuka clan, even if the title wasn't hereditary. He had been trained since his partner, Akamaru, had chosen him, and because of that, the only Inuzuka in his age group that could beat him was his cousin Kenji, who would no doubt fight him for the Alpha position when his mother stepped down.

The main problem of his childhood would be that his position amongst clan-children made him cocky, and only some people wanted to be his friend in the academy. This of course was dealt with when he made the mistake of insulting the death mother of one of his classmates. His cockiness left him that day and there was only pride after that.

However he still felt the need to prove himself superior, which is how he found himself in his current position: Team seven had been ambushed while tree-hoping to find the scroll they needed. A low-level wind jutsu had hit them head-on, and only quick reflexes had saved them from flying away.

After landing between the trees the creepy it that had stood behind the crazy proctor had swallowed the scroll and trapped them in a genjutsu that was made even more effective with the KI in the air, which was high enough to paralyze them by itself.

Having fought off the paralysis, Uchiha Sasuke , Kiba and Akamaru tried with all they could to drive the Thing away, only to be toyed with for around half-an-hour. By the time they had managed to injure the Thing, they were tired and in no condition to fight despite the several soldier-pills that Sakura kept on her pouch.

When his teammate, Sasuke, finally decided to give up on the fight, Kiba and Akamaru kept fighting on, trying with all their might to stop the Thing from getting closer to his teammates.

The main problem was that they had already taken more pills than what was recommended and they were close to approaching their limits; it would only be a matter of time until they collapsed.

In a last effort to stop the Monster they were fighting, Kiba took a jump from the tree he was standing on and along with Akamaru, performed a Gatsuga with all the strength they had left.

Much to his horror though, he and Akamaru were kicked in the head as soon as they got within striking range . The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was the Thing biting Sasuke in the neck.

* * *

***Team ten*one day later***

The new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho could not be called but average.

The members of the team were all the first-born of the heads of their respective clan, but none of them were geniuses; the only one that could be considered that was Nara Shikamaru, and he was too lazy to do something with his potential. The girl of the team, a blond going by Yamanaka Ino, was the weak link of the team, having done only the bare minimum of training required to advance at a snail's pace. The Akimichi of the team, Choji, was also the heavy-hitter and the one that was usually left with the duty of finishing enemies off.

Even if they were average, they were still strong, stronger than some of the teams that had entered the forest, or at least, better suited for flash-attacks; they had already taken down four teams with Shikamaru's hit-and-run tactics. Unluckily, all four teams had the scroll they already had.

To make it worse they had already finished all the food that CHoji had brought with him, so they were forced to hunt both a team and an animal to eat.

Right now they were hunting for a rabbit that was big enough to feed them for another day. That was how they found team seven and the team from Oto.

Sakura was using what few things she knew to distract the enemies long enough so that she could finish the opposition. It was going well, until she was captured.

Then a green-clad bushy-browed boy came and managed to kick so much ass that team ten was almost sure that the leader of the Oto gennin had been defeated.

Then it all went to hell.

The boy with weird holes on his pals had shoved them into the ground, and somehow managed to soften the earth so that not only Dosu survived, but only had ONE bruise on his arm.

Then the bowl-haired boy had been caught on an attack coming of that strange gauntlet filled with holes, which made him start swaying on his feet, standing only on pure willpower rather than natural balance.

The few minutes were surly a torture for the poor Rock Lee, who then proceeded to show that even though he had lost an advantage, he was still strong, managing to hold off long enough for his teammates to arrive; a girl with brown hair put into buns, and a really cold looking Hyuuga.

The girl of the team picked up the green-clad boy and took him with her back to the tree she was standing on before the Oto-gennin could do anything.

The Hyuuga then taunted them until the kid with hole-palms tried to blast them away, something that didn't really work and only made the Hyuuga, who by now proved himself to be really arrogant, to smirk.

"We'll be leaving you now" the Hyuuga said, "That boy under the tree is about to wake, I'll leave you to him" The three disappeared shortly afterwards.

Team ten, having not known what Neji was talking about, jumped forward in a, probably fruitless, attempt to help their comrade.

Before they could join the fray however, a malevolent force assaulted the clearing they were in, making everyone paralyzed under the feeling.

Uchiha Sasuke was the source: He had just woken up, and he was PISSED.

* * *

***Cementery*Half an hour earlier***

"You called me here," Anko said "What the hell do you want?" It was the third day of her exam, meaning she got to enjoy the tortured screams of people who had gotten far enough to meet the spider colony, or the bear's den. Really some people needed to learn to trust their gut feelings, like that red-headed gaki that had led his team around a centipede's nest, the spider colony and the bears without really thinking about it; that was one good gut.

"Well, we thought you would recognize what happed here" Said Kotetsu, who had found the bodies.

That made her pause, something SHE would recognize? There only some things that she would recognize and others wouldn't; like when someone had been broken by torture even though he seemed fine.

The purplette doubted that was it.

"Come with us, we'll show you" Izumo moved towards a space with no graves in it.

Anko's heart skipped a beat when she saw the corpses.

"We found them like that not ten minutes ago" said the bandaged Konoha-nin "You told us to call you if anything weird ever happened" he tapped one of the corpses with his foot, "they were one of the teams that passed Ibiki's exam, we think you may know what happened."

"Yeah, I do" she replied absentmindedly. She was troubled, '_damn,_ _damn,_ _damn,_ _damn, DAMN, HE came, I know it's him'_ a memory flashed before her eyes, of the day she had been found shortly after Orochimaru had left her. Some of the bodies he had left behind had no faces, only flesh, much like the ones in front of her, '_He's got something in mind, but he infiltrated the exams, one of the heirs_' she turned around, in the direction of the Forest of Death, "Go to the Hokage, tell him that the Snake has come back to its hatching place, he'll understand"

The two nodded, and she ran as fast as she could towards the place she knew HE would be.

* * *

***Hokage's office*Ten minutes later* **

The chunin burst into his office, ignoring the annoyed rants of the receptionist, "Sir, I have a message from Mitarashi Anko" He slammed the door behind him as he moved to stand in the direct center of the room.

The Hokage looked up from his scrying orb, where he was watching the different teams that had passed to the second round of the chunin exams, "And what, pray tell, did she tell you to tell me" the Old Hokage

"She told me that the Snake had come back to its hatching place" the chunin dutifully replied.

The Hokage went through some hand-seals before touching the crystal with his palms.

He saw a smirking face just as it melted into the wood of one of the tall trees of the forest of death, "Find Mitarashi Anko, then bring her and all the Shinobi Heads to the meeting room." Sarutobi said.

The chunin saluted, disappearing with a shunshin.

'_Why are you back, Orochimaru? Whatever it is, I'll end you as soon as you show your face again_' thought Sarutobi Hiruzen.

* * *

***Shinobi Council Chamber*One hour later***

The Official Shinobi Council was the only true governing body in the Hidden Villages. The civilians had their own Council, which had one spokesperson that took whatever was needed to the Hokage, who would then approve or decline it.

The OSC had monthly meetings, mostly talking about missions gone wrong, flash-missions, A-S-Rank tasks and targets and, occasionally, like right now, threats to the village,

The Council was composed of several high standing shinobi that were part of either the regular or the special corps: head of the Intel department; Yamanaka Inoichi. Head of the Torture and Interrogation; Morino Ibiki. The ANBU Chief Commander; Ryu. Jonin General; Nara Shikaku. Chunin Colonel; Sentōki Hiro. Head of the Ninja Hospital; Hīrā Yoshiko. Clan Heads of the Great Konoha Clans; Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Kurama, Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Aburama, Sarutobi. Two of those seats were deserted; the Uchiha and the Senju. Also present was Mitarashi Anko, who was gripping her neck so tightly it was a surprise that it hadn't been pierced already.

"Good to see all of you are here" Hiruzen spoke, with a voice they hadn't heard since the time Orochimaru had betrayed the Leaf, "The reason I called you all here is because of a message I received some time ago from a messenger tokubetsu jonin Mitarashi Anko here sent.

"The message, though delivered in different words, said that my greatest regret came back to the village: Orochimaru was spotted during the second phase chunin exams" gasps were heard across the room, "Mitarashi Anko encountered him inside the forest; I'll give the word to her"

"Thanks Hokage-sama" said Anko, "After Izumo and Kotetsu showed me a face-less corpse, I knew HE was responsible for it. I sent the two to deliver my message while I went to fight him, maybe even kill him.

"The bastard used his Seal against me, left me to die back there; I would have if they hadn't found me. Before he left though, he told me to tell you that he wanted the sharingan, and that if we stopped the chunin exams he would bring an army."

The Hokage clasped his hands in front of him "As dangerous as it seems, we MUST continue the exams, we need the revenue the finals will bring, and we all know that there are many good candidates for the promotion" he said "Ryu, Shikau and Hiro, make plans in case of invasion, we NEED contingency plans" the three nodded, "Inoichi, Ibiki, I need you to check the files on Orochimaru, anything that may help us defeat him.

"We face a probable crisis, Orochimaru MUST be killed, and he will be defeated should he make a move"

* * *

**And that will must likely finish the forest of death.**

**There isn't much to say, other than I'm in my mid-year exams and need to do some revising.  
**

**I updated my profiles with some author challenges, stuff I've never seen written in this site before. Check it out and PM me if you decide to take them.  
**

**Wait for the next update.  
**

**Ja ne  
**


	32. The tower

**The tower**

***Forest of death*center tower*day two***

Naruto sighed as one of his blood-clones finally dissolved after a battle in the forest; the chisio bunshin had lasted more than what he had tought it would, a good five months.**  
**

Had it really been that long since he had become a gennin? Time flew by when you were a ninja, that was for sure. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that shinobi rarely ever fell into a boring routine. It certainly made life more entertaining to live, even if there WAS the constant risk of dying.

He really needed to organize the memories the clone had left him with; five months of life plus the many kage bunshin the BNaruto had made were more than enough to give him one hell of a headache, even if the memories were somewhat organized already

The red-head shook his head and went to the basement of the tower, where a small training ground was located; since the blood clone had so many damn memories he would need to re-learn what it had done, so as to net get caught off guard by a surprising control upgrade or a new technique or something like that.

* * *

***The next day***

Naruto looked around the arena-like room he was in; he had spent most of the night getting the hang of the only thing the chisio bunshin had learned without him knowing, a suiton supportive justu that would reinforce his joints, making them more flexible and giving him more dodging opportunities in a close-quarter fight.

The suiton: mizu tsugite overloaded the joints of the body with water chakra, giving them enough flexibility that a master of the jutsu could touch his nose with his foot, standing up.

Of course, the drawback of the technique was that a beginner like Naruto, whose clone had only managed to read a couple of lines of the scroll it was written in before dissolving, had to learn how to walk such flexibility; on mistake and you could very well end up doing a split on a tree while in battle.

Yep, something could go horribly wrong in that scenario.

He could see the advantage of such a jutsu in a battle against people like Hagane or Haku; the former wouldn't expect him to dodge rather than block his arms, and the later wouldn't expect him to dodge things like the sensatso suisho or smaller senbon barrages.

He shivered; the girl's aim was frightening.

When fighting in close-range, the jutsu would give him the ability advantage unless he fought someone who knew it too, or against someone who could dislocate or block joints with a strike.

He also had to work in his fuinjutsu, which while better than about everyone at the village with the exception of Jiji and Jiraya if he came back, was not on a level that niether his mother nor Kurama thought good enough, which would be when he could identify every single seal that covered the 'Might of the Swirling Tides' with no trouble.

That wouldn't happen until he was fifteen at the earliest if he didn't get a master on fuinjutsu other than his mother.

Another thing that the clones were practicing with was the chakra pillar, which was now at a barely acceptable level: It was six inches tall and three inches thick; for him to try it on his tailbone he needed it to be at least the same lenght and as thick as his arm, and stable enough that he could keep at it for at least an hour.

If he wanted to make himself a tail before the third exam, he would need to break his rule about not more than ten clones working on the same thing at a time.

He left the arena felled with clones, massaging his aching hips and shoulders; that damn jutsu would be a pain to master.

* * *

***Cafeteria*ten minutes later***

"They didn't" Naruto's whisper broke through the silence that prevailed in the room, "I can't believe they did it"

The reason he was shocked; there was a food stand on the cafeteria the read 'ICHIRAKU'.

With the speed available for only a ramen addict with withdrawal syndrome, the red-head Uzumaki found himself face to face with an amused Ayame, she giggled "I really think you should stop eating so much ramen Naruto-kun" she said.

The goggle wearing teen clenched his chest and reeled back as if struck, "How could I when it is a food fit for the Kami?!" he didn't notice the nodding head of Gaara, who resumed his staring at his back after catching himself.

Ayame giggled again, "I suppose you want your usual?" she asked.

"HAI!" came his enthusiastic reply.

"You'll have to wait a bit, they'll take more here than back home" said the brunette waitress.

"As long as I get to it the food of Kami, then I don't care" replied the addict.

Naruto went to sit on a lone table, away from the creepy Suna red-head, and thought back to what his blood-clone had done when he sent it to explore: He had let it out from one of the balconies the tower had, and then, when it was awake, the clone set off to explore the training ground.

During the exploration, the clone eliminated a team from Kusagakure, and continued on, stopping only to send out kage bunshin to areas it felt were too dangerous.

After some more wandering it eventually came to another team from Kusa that had walked into a giant bear's cove. It then proceeded to kill the two males of the team and was about to kill the girl (another red-head, seriously, he was starting to think that more Uzumaki than he thought had escaped the KKI invasion) who had sensor skills, and had pleaded with the chisio bunshin to help her.

The clone, being Naruto, had called the taka no tsume and fought of the bear, losing some blood from the fight.

The girl passed out shortly after CNaruto fought the bear off, and left the clone to himself. The clone, thinking that no-one would ever know, looted the bodies, finding the scroll for the mizu tsugite.

The last thing the clone had heard was a mutter from the red-headed girl, something that sounded like 'such…warm…chakra' unfortunately, the blood-loss and chakra-deficiency got to the clone before it could confirm what it had heard.

It was troublesome, without actually knowing what the gild had said, something hard as the memory, which he couldn't reach since it was a clone's, was fuzzy and made recalling almost impossible.

He didn't notice that a person had taken a seat to his right. He did notice however, that someone was trying to take some of HIS ramen.

With a speed worthy of a shinobi twice his level, Naruto brought his chopsticks down onto the offending hand, earning a pained whimper from his victim.

The red-head turned to his right to see a grimacing Fuu holding her hand in obvious pain, "what the hell Reddie?!" she shouted.

"It's your fault Fuu-chan, nobody steals the ramen" behind his goggles his eyes narrowed.

"Well you were leaving it to cool, what was I supposed to do?! Let that blessing go to waste?!" She yelled.

"You could have told me it was here" he shook his head, "Do you honestly believe I would let the food of the gods go to waste?"

"You were about to commit a travesty" she pointed her finger at him, "you almost broke a law of nature"

Naruto's eyes narrowed until they were little else than slits behind his goggles.

His hand grabbed a bowl seconds after Fuu assumed she had won the argument, plowing through it in a speed that many would believe impossible for a human to achieve and leaving Fuu to gape.

The mint haired girl grabbed one of her own, keeping pace with Naruto's eating speed.

The two engaged in an eating contest, finishing bowl after bowl in second, until only one was left.

The two glanced at the bowl, then at each other, daring the other mentally to try and take the remaining plate first.

The two launched their hand forward at the same time, engaging in a battle with their chopsticks, making the ramen bowl move around the table, dripping some of the broth.

Sometime later, the chopsticks fell off their hands and the battle became one of whose fingers were more nimble. Naruto was pretty sure that if it weren't for their jinchuriki healing factor that their hands would now be a mess of broken bones.

With a cry of victory Fuu pushed his hand away just enough for her to grab the bowl of ramen, only to find it splattered all over the table.

"LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" The orange eyed girl screamed at him.

"ME? YOU WERE THE ONE THAT WANTED TO STEAL _MY _RAMEN DATTEBAYO!" he shouted back with as much force, both of them oblivious to the amusement of the three teams that had arrived to the cafeteria.

The two glared at each other, the tension of the room rising to levels that would lead to battle at any second.

The two grinned at the other, their arms slung over their shoulders and an expression of triumph on their faces.

"FINALLY SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS" the two teens shouted at the same time, tears of happiness rolling down their faces.

Ayame, who was watching from her stand, only shook her head, amused at the fact that someone could be as much a ramen addict as Naruto, who could eat thirty bowls on a good day.

She had to admit, the two would make a nice couple.

* * *

***Two days later***

Naruto looked to his left and right, counting the teams that had made it to the tower within the time limit: Teams seven through eleven from Konoha, a team that had glasses and purple as dress code, also from Konoha, A team from Taki and the Suna siblings.

"Congratulations maggots" The crazy proctor said from her post on top of the Ram-seal statue on the wall, "You have passed the second exam, I hope you are ready to fight"

The red-headed teen groaned; he really hoped his opponent wouldn't be from team purple or team seven, he didn't want to fight a team that was exhausted.

'_**No honor on fighting**__/a weakened enemy__/ 'ttebayo´ _thought the three habitants of the body.

* * *

**This is nothing more than a filler, only relevant thing is the mizu tsugite, the water joint, and other than that it is meant for nothing else than humor.**

**I finished my exams (YAY) and on monday I'm going to have a free day because my teachers want peace when grading, so expect the next chapter sometime mid week.  
**

**Other than that I've got nothing to say.  
**

**Ja ne  
**


	33. The preliminaries

**The matches (sorry about the mistake, thanks to those that pointed it out)  
**

* * *

***Forest of death*tower*noon of the last day***

"NE, cougher sensei, are you sure you're allowed to proctor" Fuu's voice broke through the tense silence that had settled when the Hokage announced the preliminary fights for the third round of the exam.

Gekou Hayate sighed at his student's question, "yes Fuu,*cough* as long as I stay within pre *cough* set rules, I can proctor the matches" he said.

"Alright, brats, the rules are non-existent with the exception of STOPPING when Gekou says it" said Miratashi Anko, "You cn kill, though it IS discouraged"

"Thanks Anko" Hayate coughed, "On the screen are going to appear names *cough* those named have to come down *cough* to the arena *cough* everyone else stays in the railings" he finished

The screen started going through names, eventually stopping in the names ***Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi***

Everyone but the two went up to the railings, each team grouping together with their sensei with the exception of team eleven, whose sensei was referring the matches.

"So that's your sensei" said Naruto as he stood side to side with Fuu, "I can't see what Yuugao-nee sees in him"

The mint-haired girl looked at him "You mean Purple Cat" he looked at her as if she was mad, "what? You know I put a nickname to everyone" he continued staring, "Her hair is purple and she has that cat mask hanging off her hip, hence 'Purple Cat'" She nodded as if to prove her point.

"Aha" the red-head shook his head, "she would probably get violent if she heard you call her that" he idly noticed Sasuke grabbing his neck as he traded blows with Akado, resulting in the guy getting grabbed.

"Been there, done that" Fuu smirked at him, "She threw a hissy fit and started throwing things at me" she winced as she saw the kicks the Uchiha pulled on the other teen "few of them managed to nail me, pretty sure I still have some bruises"

Naruto snorted, picturing the image in his head, "I bet the reason she didn't do more to myou was because she had a date"

Fuu nodded, wincing as the Uchiha finished Yoroi, "they usually meet after team sessions"

The names ***Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino*** flashed on the screen.

"WOOOO, CAT FIGHT" shouted Hagane.

Haku slapped him on the head, "You are the only one who would say that with my sensei around Hagane" said Naruto. It was true, most men were afraid of Kurenai; they wouldn't say anything sexist in front of her, except Hagane apparently.

"A man has to say what a man has to say Naruto-Kakyū" The metal-eyed teen nodded.

"I've told you time and time again, to NOT CALL ME KAKYŪ" his eyebrow twitched and a vein throbbed under his Konoha-hitai-ate.

"Whatever" The Kinzoku pointed at Naruto's neck, "hey man, why do you have two different head-bands, I mean, doesn't that kind of makes you a" Hagane scratched his head "you know, a traitor?"

Kurenai tuned out the sound of the shouting match taking place n the arena and instead paid attention to her student. She knew why he had it of course, but she wanted to see how he explained it.

"Not really, I mean" the goggle wearing boy thought on what to say, "It's more of a clan insignia, the one I wear on my neck" he clenched his hand around the Whirlpool headband "It's what every Uzumaki wore when Uzu was still standing"

Hagane and Haku nodded, since they too had nothing but insignias to remember their clan by: a snow flake for the Yuki and a pair of crossed sword-arms for the Kingoku.

"Heh, harpies don't know how to fight" Fuu muttered. The match had started five minutes ago.

"You know" said Naruto, "I'm kind of expecting them to start spouting stuff about the power of love and all that they talked about in the academy."

Fuu shook her head, as did Haku, "Damn fan-girls" they muttered.

The match finished with a double knockout, disappointing really, but not much of a surprise. Hopefully the two would start some kind of ninja crash-course after the exams finished.

***Sabaku no Kankuro vs Tsurugi Misumi***

"A puppeteer against an unknown, interesting matchup" said Naruto.

"Yeah, but the guy gives off creepy vibes" Fuu shot back

"Good point, I bet the guy has some kind of" Tsurugi stretched himself "there it is, bet he uses that more than he should"

"That is so creepy, I'm shocked someone could make a technique like that" said Haku

"That guy has date rapist written over him" muttered Hagane, before shouting "OI DOLL-USER, MAKE SURE HE CAN'T USE ANYTHING ANYMORE"

Kankuro scowled before impaling Tsurugi with the arms of his puppet, getting the stretcher out of the fight.

***Sabaku no Temari vs Ten-Ten***

Naruto shook his head, "bad matchup if I've ever seen one" he said.

"Why's that, I only see another cat-fight waiting to happen" Hagane had stars in his eyes

"Look at the thing Temari has on her back; it's obviously a war fan" he watched as the blond girl blocked the thrown weapons of Ten-Ten "Ten-Ten-chan uses thrown weaponry, useless against an experienced wind user" Temari opened her fan blow away some shuriken "which her opponent most likely is"

The match ended up being one of the shortest ones that evening, with Temari defeating Ten-Ten in the most humiliating way possible.

***Nara Shikamaru vs Sentōki Akira***

The lazy genius groaned "Do I really have to fight a girl, they are so troublesome"

A brown-haired, hazel-eyed, rather tall girl grew a tick mark at the comment "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BASTARD!" she shouted.

The girl then jumped from the railing to the arena, tapping her foot impatiently as Shikamaru slowly made his way down the stairs and onto the arena.

"Are both of you ready *cough*?" asked Hayate. The two nodded, Shikamaru a bit reluctant, "HAJIME!"

"I wonder if I should just give up now." Shikamaru told himself, only to throw himself to the floor as a barrage of shuriken passed above him, "damn it woman, give some warning first"

Akira scowled "it's a fight moron, I supposed to try and beat you" she said.

The Taki-kunoichi went through some hand-seals "Suiton: takanami no jutsu" from the bottles the girl had on her, water erupted in a tsunami, advancing towards Shikamaru at full speed.

Said boy jumped to the wall second before the wall of water hit him, assuming a lazy posture even when clinging to the wall, "That is exactly why I don't fight women, they are troublesome"

'_The water will make it difficult for me to win, it leaves me guessing where my shadow is,_' he looked at his opponent, '_I need to get her close to the wall_'

The girl started another set of hand-seals "Takigakure-Ryū: Mizukiri no Yaiba" from the water rose a claymore sword made of water. Akira grabbed it "get ready to lose" she said.

Shikamaru dodged the slashes of the sword, losing some hairs and some blood when the blade managed to nick him.

"Why. Don't. You. Stay. PUT!" the brunette shouted, frustrated that she had only managed some cuts on her opponent.

Finally, after some more minutes of her wildly slashing her sword, she nailed Shikamaru on the side.

Only for him to turn into a splintered log.

The girl then flew away when a kick hit her on the back of the head, sending her near the wall.

She turned around and made to rush towards her opponent, only to stop dry. "Kagemane no jutsu, success" said the Nara.

Akira moved her eyes about, looking for whatever it was that had her paralyzed, only to see a dark line flowing from the pieces of log that were scattered from where she had been standing to where she was now, connecting with her own shadow.

"Now, give up, or I'll be forced to hurt you" Shikamaru moved one hand to the leg where he had his holster, Akira following his movement.

"How did he do that?" asked Naruto.

"Easy, guy's a genius" said Hagane, "He knew the limit of his technique, and made a plan to deal with it"

"When you flooded the floor" said Shikamaru "many of the strategies I had prepared were drowned" His friends palmed their faces "my shadow possession can't travel well through water, since light travels differently in it" he pointed at the limber on the water, "when you destroyed my substitution, you gave me more surface to work with, more shadow to move" his finger moved from the wood to the wall "add to that the fact that you are standing IN the shadow the railing is casting."

Akira groaned "Fine, I give up" she said.

***Kinzoku Hagane vs Yuki Haku***

"Oh Kami no, anything but that" Haku whispered.

Hagane put his hand on her shoulder, "don't worry" he said "it's going to be like the spars we had when with Zabuza"

She nodded, and shakily made her way downstairs"

"You both ready?" Hayate asked. Haku steeled herself and nodded "HAJIME"

She jumped back, knowing that engaging in hand-to-hand with Hagane was a big no, and threw senbon after senbon with one hand, the other going through the hand-seals of one of her most used technique "Hijutsu: sensatsu suisho."

Hagane used his bloodline to transform his arms into shields, blocking most of the needles.

"Tetsusō: Kunai" Hagane pointed his hands at Haku, sending dozens of kunai flying at her. Haku dodged

"Tetsusōkon" The Kinzoku punched forward, his hand transforming into a club and extending towards Haku.

The girl jumped, grabbing the club and traveling with it as it retracted back into Hagane. The dark-haired teen kicked the boy in the chin, making his head snap to the side.

"Hyoton: Hyōjin" she shouted as she dropped Hagane, her arm covering itself in ice, forming a blade that she used to block the sword Hagane had turned his arm into.

The two danced with their blades, blocking and slashing at each other, neither getting a clear advantage over the other.

Then Haku's blade chipped; a clear sign that she was being bested in force.

She jumped back, trying to get some distance, but that failed as Hagane refused to go back to long ranged combat.

Hagane changed his arms back into clubs and started to try to pommel Haku, nearly succeeding a couple of times.

Then Haku's concentration slipped and she nearly fell into the water.

Hagane used the moment to hit Haku on the chest, wincing as he did so.

She didn't want to continue fighting after she smashed against the wall. She wasn't like her friend, she couldn't bring herself to hurt a friend, not even in a fight.

***Fuu vs Sentōki Hikaru***

"NOT HIM, ANYONE BUT HIM!" Fuu shouted.

"Whay are you shouting?" asked Naruto.

"That guy is one of the WORST fan-boys ever" she replied, "Guy has a crush on me the size of the sun"

Oddly enough, Naruto was a little mad by that, "All the more reason to beat him half to death" he said.

"NO, I'm a mid-range fighter, if he has the chance he'll grope me" That made him more annoyed, for some reason.

"Then keep him away and pummel him with jutsu after jutsu" he said.

"Could I jus…" she began

"No" he interrupted, "just do as I said and make sure he stays away dattebayo"

Begrudgingly, the orange eyed girl made her way down the stairs, cursing under her breath all the way.

"Fuu-sama" her eye twitched "I was blessed with the opportunity to fight you"

Hayate, seeing the intent to maim in the eyes of the girl, said "HAJIME"

Fuu took a step back as Hikaru got too close for comfort, "Your eyes, they are as beautiful as ever, Fuu-sama" he blocked a kick to his chest, trying to lean down a bit while doing so.

"Stay away from me you damn hentai" she tried to punch the boy on the head, but Hikaru leaned away from the punch, the admiration still in his eyes.

"But why Fuu-sama?" Hikaru asked as he kept dodging, "why should I stop admiring the image of perfection?"

'_That is the corniest thing I ever heard_' thought Naruto.

"Screw it, you're a damn stalker" she jumped back, hiding some wire on her hand.

Hikaru, as she had expected him to do, jumped forward, his arms spread wide in what some would recognize as the beginning of the 'Hug of Doom'

Fuu attached a kunai to the wire, throwing the knife in an attempt to capture the Taki-gennin.

It worked. The cable wound itself on Hikaru's leg, letting him at the mercy of Fuu, who used the connection to make the boy smash face-first into the wall, knocking the fan-boy out.

She stormed her way up the stairs, muttering all the way.

The greenette saw Naruto smirking, "Don't. Say. A. Word"

His smirk widened, "but, Fuu-sama…" he started in a sing-song voice, but he stopped when her fist met his head.

"Finish that sentence and I'll make what Hagane suffers seem pale" she growled out.

In the outside, Naruto was displaying fear, on the inside however, "Y-yeah" he grinned, "Fuu-sama" He bolted.

"COME BACK HERE YOU IDIOT" she chased after him, having the common sense to NOT use the floor.

***Hyuuga Neji vs. Hyuuga Hinata***

A clone popped-up next to the pale-eyed girl, "Listen Hinata, I know you're scared, but you have to remember what Kurenai-sensei has taught us, and that the Boss has your back" the clone popped.

The fight had gone better than what she could have expected; she had lost yes, but the only major injury she had were some fractured ribs, but nothing that couldn't heal after a few weeks on the hospital.

***Sabaku no Gaara vs. Rock Lee***

This was one of the longest matches of the day, with Lee and Gaara taking away the lead from each other at every turn, leading to the opening of Lee's celestial gates.

To the disappointment of Naruto, and slight fear, Lee lost against Gaara, managing to escape the crazed boy with only a broken arm and ankle.

Hopefully Lee would get back to his peak, it would be sad if he was force to retire after just one year as a shinobi.

"Since *cough* there is an odd number of *cough* participants, the last battle will be a three-way-free-for-all"

***Inuzuka Kiba vs. Sentōki Kaoru vs. Uzumaki Naruto***

The three jumped down, or in Naruto's case dropped from the roof, and landed in a triangle formation around a circle that marked the starting point for the fights.

Inuzuka Kiba: a brown-spiky haired, dark-eyed wild-looking boy wearing a gray hoodie, his partner, Akamaru, a white puppy.

Sentōki Kaoru: Raven-black-hair, light green eyes and calm appearance, he was wearing a light green wind-braker

Uzumaki Naruto: Blood-red hair, purple/blue eyes covered by goggles, eager in appearance, wearing a blue midriff under a red sleeve-less coat.

The three of them were the best of their class on their field: Taijutsu, genjutsu and nin-taijutsu respectively.

In a one-on-one fight, the first would defeat the second, the second the third and the latest the first.

On a three-way battle, it wasn't known who would win.

The three observed the others, each with their own brand of eager anticipation. They stood, unmoving, waiting for another to make the first move.

Kiba moved first, running towards Naruto at full speed, a hand ready to strike the red-head in the head.

Naruto blocked; his Yōsō materializing seconds after Kiba's punch hit.

The Inuzuka jumped back as Naruto made to stab him in the stomach. He was lucky Naruto had made the Falcon Talons duller, else it would be much too sharp for a non-deadly fight.

"Magen: Meikai shin'en" The two Konoha teens found themselves at the bottom of a ravine, monsters flowing from the sides.

'_Genjutsu!__' _shouted Kushina. Naruto dispelled it, accidentally helping Kiba.

The red-head dodged under a barrage of shuriken, a few of them cutting his coat. Kiba jumped out-of-the-way, sending some kunai back at Kaoru.

Naruto made the hand-seals for the Suiton: Suichū hari danmaku no jutsu. He finished it just as Kaoru came up from ducking under Kiba's kunai.

The needles hit both his opponents, dissolving after spending a few second in the wounds, letting them bleed freely.

Kiba crossed his arms as the attack hit him, letting his arms take what was meant for his head and chest, hissing as the cold water left the holes on his arms.

He locked eyes with Naruto, reeling back as he saw a faceless monster instead, the thing reaching out with a slender arm towards him.

"Magen: Hosomi Otoko" Kaoru smirked as the boy who looked oddly like a dog screamed like a scared toddler, only to lean back as a bright claw passed near his head, taking his fringe with it as it passed.

Kaoru grew frustrated as the boy before him refused to let him create an illusion that would leave the red-head open long enough for the Taki-nin to finish him. The worst part was that the dog-boy was still awake, running circles around them, screaming about his creation.

Finally, after a few more minutes of dodging, he caught Naruto's eyes, catching the red-head in a genjutsu that would allow Kaoru to take Naturo out.

"Magen: Jukujo no kōgek" Naruto fell on his back as a jaguar jumped from behind Kaoru. The Uzumaki kicked his feet upward, trying to catch the giant cat on its belly, only for them to pass through the animal.

His chakra flared again, dispelling the illusion and revealing Kaoru walking towards him as he crouched.

"GATSUGA" Kaoru looked shocked as Kiba drilled into him from his front, sending him into the pad of another drill that sent him to the wall, knocking him out from the impact.

"Thanks for getting me out of there," Kiba shuddered, "and for the distraction, now it's just you and me" the Inuzuka jumped forward, "GATSUGA"

Kiba and Akamaru, who had transformed into another Kiba, came at him from his front and back, trying to trap him in a pincer move.

Naruto stood still, apparently letting the 'fangs' hit him.

The red-head dodged, the drills passing by him and hitting each other.

The two dog-boys stopped spinning, one before the other, causing one of them to transform back into Akamaru, who was looking roughed up.

"I suppose that means I'm winning dattebayo" Naruto smirked.

"Don't count me out yet, TSUGA" the inuzuka shouted as Naruto started to move his left hand in random patterns above his right, a bright blue sphere forming between them.

"Still needs some work, but here it goes" the crowd didn't see what happened between Kiba's last attack and when Naruto moved his hand forward, but they knew that whatever he had done was enough to rival one of the fastest, most dangerous nin-taijutsu moves.

"Shoza: Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto shook his burned hand: whenever he tried the rasengan still damaged his hand more than necessary.

He needed more work on it.

* * *

***Twenty minutes later***

"The finals will take place in a month, you have that time to train, prepare and plan" the Hokage said, "In this tournament ANYONE can get the promotion, but the more you win, the batter your chances are"

"The tournament racket is as follows" said Anko

**Kinzoku Hagane vs. Hyuuga Neji**

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Fuu  
**

**Sabaku no Kankuro vs Aburame Shino  
**

**Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari  
**

**Sabaku no Gaara vs. Uchiha Sasuke  
**

"I'll see you *cough* in a month" Said Hayate

* * *

**And so finishes the 'Forest of Death' arc.**

**Hope you like the fights, specially the last one, since it's the one that took me the longest to write, my first three-way battle.  
**

**I won't update this for a while, since inspiration hit me on my Harry Potter idea and I need to hit back, eliminating it and absorbing its powers allowing me to continue writting as long as I want.  
**

**Not really no, but I _do_ need to map it, which will take me some days, then I plan on there being a 'month yes, month no' on each story, advancing each one at a time and not both at the same time.**

**Things like that simply don't work for me.  
**

**So this story will come back on March with chapter 34-40 more or less, deppends on me capturing inspiration.  
**

**With no more to say, I'll exit with a qote  
**

**'I'll be back'  
**


	34. Meting up with the teachers

**Meeting up with the teachers.**

***Monday*afternoon*Konoha**

Naruto was sitting in Ichiraku's with his team, sensei and family. They were currently discussing something that concerned both Naruto and Shino, "So, I suppose you two will want training for the month" Kurenai said

The two nodded, "Yeah we need to be ready for them, get the promotion"

"Shino will be asking his father most likely" Said Iruka.

"Indeed, I will be looking into clan techniques and modifications" Shino ate some noodles through his jacket.

"What about you Naruto-kun?" asked Kurenai.

"I was going to ask you latter Iruka-nii" answered the red-head, happily slurping his ramen.

"And not me, Naruto" said Kurenai, calmly but with the dangerous undertone.

Naruto, knowing the danger of the situation, replied, "well, you're awesome, Kurenai-sensei, but unless you got MORE control exercises, nii-san can work better with me for planning"

The woman nodded, slightly upset about hearing that, but knowing the truth.

"Do you really THINK I have the time to train you Naruto" Iruka said with a sad smile.

"Wh-wha-WHAT?" Naruto shouted.

Iruka sighed, "The academy won't let me train you during the month, only on the weekends," the man ruffled Naruto's hair, "don't worry though, I'm sure Yuugao can help with your weapons"

"Yeah, though I wanted to spend more time with you" the red-head slowed down a bit.

"I said I have time for you on the weekends, and you can always help me out during class hours" Iruka said, amused because he knew that Naruto would never, EVER, step on the academy unless ordered.

True enough, Naruto shivered at the mention of the place, "No, no, I think I'll wait for the weekends".

"I'll tell Yuugao-chan when I see her tomorrow, take the day and meet her by the lake" Kurenai drank her broth, dignified, a complete contrast from Naruto, "if she can't, then I'll meet you there and help you find someone".

"Alright" Naruto started on his thirteenth bowl, "I'll meet whoever shows up there"

"Ne, Onii-chan" Megumi poked him on the side.

"What is it imouto?" he put his hand on her head.

"Won't you be training me and the guys?" he had honestly forgotten, what with the exams and all

"Have you been training on your own?" he asked.

The green-eyed girl nodded, "Taijutsu and stealth"

"Are you following my steps?" he asked eagerly

She looked at him with a deadpan expression, "NO" she said, "Kono, Moegi and I play ninja almost all of our free time"

"Do any of you play pranks?" he asked hopefully.

Megumi sighed "yes" she said "Konohamaru is trying to dethrone you"

"I'm proud he's doing it" his face got a ghoul-like look, "but he will suffer if he tries" his cheerful face came back, "I'll take Mondays to train you three"

* * *

***Next day*Konoha Lake***

The Konoha Lake was where the river that divided the town was born from. The lake itself was big enough to hold, comfortably, the Hyuuga clan. It was also next to a hot-spring, close enough that its water was warm throughout the year.

Not many people kept close to the lake, mainly because it was close to the entry of the near-extinct Uchiha clan compound, many people didn't like the vibe the place gave off. There were people that ignored the aura of the death the place reeked, those few people would be found lazing about, since the lake was always calm.

Naruto was leaning against a rock near the lake, where he could observe the surface and the onsen at the same time, for if Yuugao arrived before the set time.

He rarely had time for relaxing since he made gennin.

'_Do you think I can win the first round?'_ he asked inwardly, not really worrying.

"_Of course you can 'ttebane' _Said Kushina.

Kurama snorted '_**Yes you can, it's not like you're fighting the red-head first'**_ he said

'_Still, I'll have to fight him in the finals_' he said.

'_If you win the first two round sochi_' said Kushina

'_If I could beat Hagane once I can beat him twice, the problem will be Fuu_'

'_**You've never fought her seriously**_'

'_Just don't underestimate her because of her gender_' Kushina said, slightly angry at the notion.

'_I know, you've beaten that into me 'ttebayo_'

'_It's called discipline_' she said innocently.

His conversation was cut short when a noise he had heard before just one time; when Hatake Kakashi had walked out of a store with a blue book two years ago.

It was a sound that had led to the single most embarrassing moment of his life: THE talk.

Since then he had vowed to attack pervert and rapists; with different levels of animosity of course.

The Talk also led him to try and find a way to disarm perverts: Kurenai had her genjutsu, Yuugao had her weapons, Kiba's sister had that strange bottle that distracted them and he had seen the way that crazy snake lady used her body. With permission from his mother (who would probably put him in a coma otherwise) he had researched the human body and developed a version of the henge that was more than just an illusion.

His pervert finisher, as he liked to call it, was a female, naked and older version of himself. Further improvement led to the perfect way of infiltration without being suspicious, since his henge was a body-changing technique as he had explained to the Konoha corps.

It was also useful for what he was going to do, even if it would be humiliating as hell.

Sighing, the Uzumaki transformed himself to a non-descript female a few years older than him. Feeling the effects taking root, Naruto hurried his pace and stood next to the wall, where a white-haired man with a red coat was crouching against the wall.

Breathing deeply, he shouted, "EEK, PERVERT!" the man turned to look at him/her with a pleading look, Naruto sent him a dark look and grinned, "STOP TOUCHING ME PERV!"

That did it.

The women inside the spring got dressed using speed that would make a Kage gape, and left the building at light speed, going to where the man stood, petrified.

The beating that ensued made Naruto satisfied as hell.

He dispelled his henge during the last seconds of the beating. He leaned against the bamboo wall with a smug expression on his face.

The (not so much anymore) angry women looked at him as he snickered at the man's punishment, "You transformed into a girl" though worded almost question-like, the statement was obvious.

"To warn you, yes," He answered, the amused look only dimming a little, "The guy was perving, I hate perverts"

They looked at him suspiciously, "you ratted out a pervert, by changing into a female"

The Uzumaki nodded, "as damaging to my pride it was," he sighed, "yes"

The cloud of doom behind the women changed direction, "Good" said another "If you ever see him doing it again just tell us, okay?"

He nodded.

They went back to the perverted man.

* * *

***Ten minutes later***

Using a regenerating technique that would make Naruto's own healing factor flush in shame, the man stood up, with little to no injures, only five minutes after the women had left the area.

The white-haired man looked angrily at Naruto, who still looked smug, "do you have any idea of what you did?" the man hissed.

The red-head shrugged, "I ratted you out to the girls in the hot-spring" he snorted, "That'll teach you not to be a pervert"

The pervert growled (start playing Jiraya's theme, awesome song) "I am NOT a pervert" the man did some hand-seals and summoned a toad, "I am the man that women love and men hate, I am the legend wrong-doers fear, the man that stalks you in the shadows, the Super Pervert, The Gallant Sage of Mount Myobokuzen, Jiraya"

As long winded the introduction had been, the little dance on top of the toad and the kabuki instruments on the background had made it really impressive, though the red-head had the feeling that it was rehearsed, "I don't care, you're a pervert, and many important people in my life are female" he snorted, "be happy it was me and not Yuugao-nee-chan or Kurenai-sensei that found you"

The man, Jiraya, paled, having heard things of what the two beauties would do to the perverts they met.

Naruto, not paying attention to Jiraya's inner musings, continued, "They should be here any moment now, wonder if I should tell them too?" he asked no-one.

In reality he knew who the man was; Jiraya of the Densetsu no Sannin, the three students of his jiji who had faced Sanshō̄o no Hanzō and lived to tell the tale. The man was the one who teached his idol, a seal-master and the most powerful Konoha ninja.

"NO, please don't tell them, I'll do anything, just don't tell them" Jiraya begged.

"Anything, hm" Naruto adopted his 'thinking pose', "Weeeeeeell" he dragged the word, "I suppose you could help me train, but you look like a daitoppa could blow you away"

The white-haired man stood up, insulted at being called weak, "Let me tell you that I am one of the SANNIN, if anyone could train you it's ME"

"You look like Yuugao-nee would drag your ass through the village" one more little push and the extra training would be his.

"THAT'S IT," Jiraya shouted, "From now on you'll be trained by ME, no 'if's', 'or' or 'buts'." He saw the smile on Naruto's face and realized that the gaki had outwitted him.

"I'll send a blood-clone to you Wednesdays and Fridays, to train physically with you Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays" Said Naruto, silently daring the man to go back on his word.

Jiraya sighed, "Alright, I'll set it up with your 'Nee-chan' to know what to do with you" he noticed something, "BLOOD-clones? You can do an A-rank KINJUTSU twice a week?"

Naruto shook his head, "I can do it once a day really," he started to roll up his left sleeve, "I normally keep five in a coma inside one of the storages on my arm" He showed the older man the tattoos that covered his forearm.

"That's…an interesting bit of sealing you got there" the sage commented.

"I had a mizu bunshin tattoo it with my ink" he bit his thumb and rolled the sleeve of his coat until it was on his shoulder, he smeared his blood on the tattoo there, "You're THE seal-master right?" Jiraya nodded, trying to gauge the boy's next action, "Do you think you can tell me what…" he unsealed the 'Might of the Swirling Tides' scroll "this is covered with?"

"Can I have it?" Jiraya knew, from the way the boy was holding the scroll, close to the tattoo it had come from, that it was valuable, maybe a heirloom, "unless it inherited"

"It's the last thing that remains from my clan, I won't let out of sight"

"Clan?"

"The Uzumaki," he said, to the astonishment of the older man, "I went to Uzushiogakure some months ago, I found the Kage journal and this scroll"

That was why the brat was so familiar, It was Minato and Kushina's kid, "Clone the scroll, give me the copy," the boy complied, forming the hand-seals, since cloning objects took two, he copied the scroll, and gave it to Jiraya, hugging the original close to his body, "Give me an hour, maybe two, I'll have the array defined by then"

Naruto nodded. Hopefully Jiraya could unravel the mystery that was the scroll.

* * *

***30 Minutes later***

When Yuugao arrived to the lake to see her 'little brother' worriedly leaning on a railing while the legendary Jiraya was looking at the scroll that had been giving Naruto trouble sleeping for months, "Ohayo, Naruto-kun" she greeted,

"NEE-CHAN!" Naruto shouted as he moved to hug her.

Jiraya briefly looked up from the scroll, before noiselessly creating a shadow-clone and returning to look over the scroll, writing notes every now and then.

The Jiraya clone came close, "I suppose that you are going to be his sensei for the month" the clone said

The purplette nodded, "I will be training him for the finals yes"

Jiraya sighed, "He, the real him, will be spending Tuesday, Thursdays and Sundays with me, so he'll be sending a blood-clone to you on those days"

Naruto nodded, "I made him promise to train me, without doing much" he said proudly.

"Can you please explain Naruto-kun?" Yuugao asked.

Jiraya answered before the red-head could, "The brat used my pride against me, managed to make me demand to train him"

Jiraya sighed, a contrast to Naruto's smug look.

Yuugao smiled fondly, "He has a way with words, and stealth" she shook her head, "he's managed to sweet-talk his way out of punishments for his pranks"

"Pranks?" Jiraya said amusedly, "I suppose he does take after his mother" he whispered.

"But he has his father's charisma and brains, even if they don't show often" Yuugao said.

"Eh wait, you knew my father?" he pointed at Jiraya, "can you tell me stories? I still have no idea who he was"

"Sooooo, you know about your mother but not your father?" the man snorted, '_half of what Minato asked isn't bad_' "Yeah, I'll tell you some stories later, after I finish with your scroll"

"How far along are you?" Naruto asked.

"I haven't advanced much" the sage admitted, "The Uzumaki were considered THE masters of the art for a reason, I'm good, but if you continue you'll probably be better than me."

Naruto beamed at that.

"Now Naruto-kun" said Yuugao, "Go practice your control while Jiraya-sama and I discuss your training"

Naruto nodded and jumped over the railing to land on the water on his hands, starting to move about on them.

"Right, why's he doing that?" Jiraya asked.

"His reserves are bigger than mine, as big as Sandaime-sama's" answered Yuugao calmly, "Kurenai-chan had to develop control exercises for him"

Jiraya shook his head, "Right, what are you are you going to teach him during the month?"

* * *

***One hour later**

Jiraya looked at his notes after finishing looking at the seal matrix that covered the scroll '_Geniuses those Uzumaki_'

The base of the matrix was a locking seal, with orbiting seals that covered the weaknesses of the simple seal: a blood seal directly linked to the lock, a chakra absorption seal, set on average Uzumaki chunin reserves, also linked to the base. There were shocking seals joined to both secondary seals that ran on nature energy and activated if neither the blood nor the chakra required match; the current was high enough that it would fry anyone who was unlucky enough to try and steal the scroll. That is, of course, if the thief didn't die of chakra exhaustion first.

Then there was the fourth layer of the array: it made the scroll protected from damage, he tried stabbing it once, just to see if it worked on a copy, the kunai was bent after he tried.

The real problem, most likely why Naruto couldn't identify, was that the whole matrix was done in a spiral design in a one square meter surface.

"Alright gaki, I know what the array does!" Naruto was in front of him in seconds, jiraya shook his head, "It's an advanced locking array that keeps the scroll from thieves, damage and time" Naruto unsealed the original, having put it away after ten minutes, "If you put your hand on the center of the matrix when a wound is still bleeding, and if your reserves are big enough you should be able to open it"

"Can I try now?" the Uzumaki asked

Yuugao nodded, "I don't see why not, if you haven't spent much chakra in the last hour"

Naruto grinned and took out a kunai, cutting his palm with it. The young teen put his bloody hand on the scroll, pushing his chakra until he felt it being sucked into the seal.

He tried to retract his hand, but it was glued to the scroll and wouldn't come off, he could feel his chakra leaving him, the pain of it being extracted from his body was too much for him and he screamed.

And then the scroll unrolled.

There, on the ground was the unrolled Uzumaki summoning contract.

* * *

**And that's it.**

**Cliff-hanger, yes, but I wanted to be cruel.**

**You'll see the animals of the contract later, during the invasion. They aren't up for discussion.**

**Next chapters are mainly training and the finals start after that.**

**Also: Fear the Big Sisters**

**Ja ne**


	35. The first week

**The first week**

***Waterfall*Konoha's outskirts*Wednesday***

Jiraya looked at the red-headed brat that had managed to trick him. He had done as he had said and expected the kid to arrive before noon, not really caring if it was a blood clone, since it would be dispelled on the last week of the month if Naruto was like him on the 'always keep promises' thing.

"All right, since you are technically your original," started the white haired sage, "The first for YOU clone, will be practising sealing," the pervert smiled "By the time I'm done with you it will only be a matter of months for you to achieve your prime in the art"

The BNaruto took papers, ink and a brush from out of a scroll the Boss had made for him, but Jiraya shook his head and handed him normal ink instead of his custom made bottle.

That was something only people actually interested in fuiinjutsu would understand: if you wanted the best result with seals, you needed to make your own ink, with natural components and a bit of your essence; pomegranate from vegetable country and a bit of blood mixed with coal made some of the best ink for when putting seals on paper or walls. His tattoos used ink exported from sea country octopuses and true indigo flower from Mori no Kuni. It had been a pain in the ass to make the ink, but it was worth it.

It had also been expensive as hell to get the ingredients.

"In the mornings YOU are with me, you will practice fast writing" saif Jiraya, taking Naruto out of his thoughts, "a true seal-master can make seals even in the heat of battle and it won't take any more than a second" the man took out a paper from one of his pockets, "I want you to copy _this _in one minute, and make it READABLE"

BNaruto groaned but read the paper Jiraya gave him, trying to memorize what it said before copying it on the clean paper, messing up several of the kanjis trying to make it fast.

Jiraya started a stopwatch as soon as Naruto started writing and stopped it as soon as the minute passed. The man took the paper from the boy and read it over, wincing at some of the kanji and looking surprised at others, "All right," the man said, "You are better than what I thought you would be," Naruto smiled, "but it is still pretty bad, so we'll be practising until it is perfect in under a minute"

Naruto groaned and pouted, but started again as soon as Jiraya told him to.

It was a long day for the clone.

* * *

***Naruto and Yuugao*Same time***

"Okay Naruto-kun, when you, the real one, are with me we'll be working in strength, speed and agility." Said Yuugao.

The two of them were standing in the training ground that team eight used everyday for team sessions when not on missions.

"I found one jutsu when in the forest" started Naruto, "It's supposed to help me with dodging," he said.

Yuugao thought about it, '_It will help him eventually, but if he __relies__ on it he will be finished as soon as he runs out of chakra_' she looked at him, smirking as he fidgeted, '_he need control first, more than anything_' she nodded, "I'll have your chisio bunshin working on it" said the purplette, "YOU will be dodging as I throw random things at you while you're wearing twice the weight you currently are"

Naruto paled as he heard that, hearing the snickering of Kurama and Kushina's proud declarations about Yuugao's training methods.

The purple-haired woman quickly put some weights on him, not giving him any time to counter, before going back to her position.

Naruto sighed as he adjusted to the weight he now carried, and started dodging when a rubber ball hit him in the chest, winding him.

By the end of the day, Naruto was bruised and sore from all the hits he had taken from the dodging training.

* * *

***Thursday*Jiraya***

"All right gaki," today we'll be working on your summoning contract" said Jiraya, to the obvious excitement of the red-head, "summoning is a branch of jinkukan techniques that deals with a way of dimension jumping, in a way" the sage patted the scroll on his back, "in itself summoning is useful, but relying on it, even if you contract is powerful, will end you eventually.

"You told me that the diary you found made the scroll to be the best thing on the island, but as I said, relying on it isn't recommended, so whatever the contract is, they should be able to teach you something."

Naruto nodded, having received the same speech from his mother, who received the speech from the Yondaime when she asked him to teach her to summon.

Jiraya continued, not noticing the thoughts of his student, "You'll start small while you get used to the drain, at best your first attempt will bring a low level or recently born animal, at worst you'll get a baby with no more than a day of live"

Naruto nodded as Jiraya handed him a scroll with the hand-seals for the jutsu, going over them until he could do them by memory and without stumbling over them.

It took him the better part of two hours.

Finally, after managing to do the seals four times with no mistakes and showing his temporary Sensei, Jiraya gave him the okay to proceed, but not before one tip, "build up and release the chakra in the exact moment, you'll know when."

Naruto nodded.

The red-head Uzumaki did the hand-seals as fast as he could without messing it up. Doing the last sign, the blond shoved his hand on the dirt and shouted "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU" using almost half of his reserves on the first tries of many.

A cloud of smoke rose from where his hand rested, covering the area from everyone and preventing Jiraya from seeing what Naruto summoned.

Once the smoke cleared, the perverted Sage raised one eyebrow in an impressed gesture and looked at Naruto, "I'll give it you gaki," said the man, "I never expected you would summon something past the four months"

Naruto grinned.

* * *

***Yuugao***

The purple haired ANBU looked at the blood clone that was standing in front of her; as she had predicted, the boy was a nervous wreck because of what the original had told him about her training methods, "your creator told me that he found a jutsu to help you dodge," she didn't pay attention to the nod, "during the morning until noon you will train on that, the same way I trained the original," she took some pleasure in his paling face, "In the evenings I'll work on your taijutsu and your bukijutsu with katas"

BNaruto cast the Mizu tsugite, almost falling as he felt his control over his limbs go straight to hell. Yuugao let the red-head regain control of his body, "for the single reason that you're a clone, no matter how resistant, I'm only using rubber balls and blunt shuriken, I don't want you dispelling in the middle of my training"

The clone nodded, the simple motion sending his head all over the place.

Yuugao threw the first ball relatively slow, but the clone did an exaggerated motion that sent his back to the floor while his head stayed up, watching as a ball came dangerously close to his jewels.

His legs folded on his side, the ball passing by his face.

Yuugao threw the first shuriken at him. He used his limited control to jump from the ground, letting the blunted weapon pass under him, but it hit him in the scalp as his feet landed, making him rub his head.

In that moment of distraction BNaruto was pelted by the rubber balls.

* * *

***Saturday*Jiraya***

"Ok gaki, today we'll be working on something YOU want" Jiraya told his student.

"REALLY?" he asked, the Sage nodded, "AWESOME DATTEBAYO" he immediately made ten clones and in seconds they eleven Naruto's were trying to do the chakra pillar.

Jiraya, confused since he had never seen such chakra control exercise, turned to the original and asked, "what are you doing?" he asked.

The Naruto's looked at the sage and said in tandem, "Well, you know bijuu right" it was a statement and not a question, everyone knew of the bijuu, "and you know this jutsu is derived from the bijuudama," Naruto showed Jiraya his rasengan, impressing the man. Naruto read his thought, "It's in the forbiden scroll, took me three months to do it right." Jiraya nodded, still impressed at the time it took him, since it had taken him a whole year, "well, I decided to do the same, but with the tails, instead of the destruction"

Jiraya nodded again, thinking about what could a pillar do to form a fully functional body part, "And how does that help?" he asked, "I mean, control is good and everything, but I doubt it can give you a body part."

Naruto hesitated, '_Tell him about it, not all, just_' said Kushina.

Kurama nodded in agreement, '_**Tell him you found it in the journal, that it's the first step**_**'**

'_Thanks_' thought Naruto, but then said, "it's a clan technique, the first step is creating a cylinder, stable mind you, half the height of your body," the red-head grinned, "Then you move it to the coxes and have an AWESOME TAIL DATTEBAYO" he shouted the last part, imagining himself throwing jutsu from the tail, growing more until the ninth and winning epic battles.

Jiraya sweat-dropped at the red-head's expression, doubting the sanity of his student.

The sage just snapped his student's attention back to reality and told him to concentrate on his exercise. It wouldn't be the last time he would doubt his decision of training Naruto.

* * *

***Yuugao***

Yuugo looked at Naruto; the red-head had been practicing dodging all morning, and now it was time to introduce him to a better style for his hayabusa no tsume.

Yuugao sat behind the red-head, smiling a bit as he moved to put his head on her tight as he did when he was younger, "you know Naruto,"he looked up at her through tired eyes, still bruised from dodging, "I've been teaching you how to properly use your claws, yet you don't use your feet enough,"

"But I do use kicks," argued the red-head, "I've caught you many time with them"

Yuugao chuckled at him, making him pout, "What I mean is that your weapon is in both hands and feet for a reason" she looked at him in the eyes.

"I remember fighting a ninja in the land of claws," she started, Naruto snapping his head at her in wonder, having heard only a few stories from his Nee-chan, "He used the same kind of weapons as you do, but he used them so well that he managed to take FIVE swords from me, do you want to know how?" Naruto nodded eagerly, so the purplette told him, "he caught me by surprise by mixing his kicks and punches in unexpected moments"

Naruto frowned, but tried to see where his sister was going, "We're going to be working on you using your legs more, which means more katas"

Naruto groaned, making Yuugao chuckle, but he stood up anyway.

* * *

***Iruka***

The scarred man looked amused as his adopted brother scowled at the walls around him, obviously hating the fact that he was in the academy again.

"Do we really have to meet here Iruka-nii?" asked the gennin

Iruka snickered, "Of course, how else would I get back for all the money I've spent on your ramen?"

Naruto growled and glared, making the pineapple-haired man let out a chuckle, "Don't worry though, we'll only be here for a while," Naruto kept glaring at him, making the teacher shake his head, "You told me that you have both a sensing technique and a sensing bloodline, right?" Naruto nodded, unsure of where his brother was going, "I myself am a sensor, part of how I could find you after your pranks, since I spent so much time with you it became easier over time"

Naruto looked deep in thought for a moment, before glaring even harder, "you're the reason half my hiding spots are CLOSED?" Iruka's amused face was enough answer, "you're lucky you're family."

"Today and tomorrow, and the other three weekends, we'll be working in you sensor abilities here, hopefully we'll have you recognizing someone's affinity and personality by the end of the month," Iruka lowered a screen in front of the blackboard, showing a map of the village and the training grounds, "I've taken some of my own time to hide some things all around the village, whether we're here, or you're training, or walking, or whatever, you'll have to find them during the month," The man grinned, "I'm pretty sire that you'll like some of the surprises, others not so much, but you'll have to do it"

Naruto groaned as Iruka went into lecture mode about the different kind of sensors and why they were so rare, it would be a long weekend.

* * *

**That's the first week, next chapter are weeks two and three.**

**I bet you thought I would reveal the contract there, but no.**

**I have re-started exams, I hate my school.**

**Not much to say other than I've started the other two stories that were roaming my head.**

**I'll be working on the three of them so updates are going to be on all three at the same time.**

**Wait for updates, Review, you know the deal.**

**Ja ne**


	36. Second and third weeks

**Second and third week**

***Monday*Morning***

Naruto twitched from where he was sitting, trying with all his might and willpower not to throttle the Sarutobi brat that had tried to take his throne.

Said kid was trembling from the barely restrained KI that his red-headed teacher was leaking.

It didn't help that he was having visions of a…_THING,_ peaking over Naruto's shoulder.

The reason they were like that was because Konohamaru had tried to set up a prank to…ah, dethrone, Naruto from his spot as Pranking King.

Naruto had seen it coming miles away, it had been the classic paint balloon throw, and it would have been funny, even for Naruto, had it NOT gone horribly wrong.

Megumi and Naruto had woken up at the same time, as it had been one of those odd days the dark-red-haired girl had moved to his bed at some point of the night.

They had had breakfast (a healthy serving of ramen and milk), before setting off to training ground 87, the younger girl riding atop Naruto.

Naruto though, being Naruto, had taken a cup of instant ramen with him, eating it along the way and savoring every noodle, as the gods of The Ramen demanded.

Then they had stepped on the training ground and Konohamaru had set off his prank.

Naruto dodged by sidestepping the balloon, thinking it to be just water.

But Konohamaru had expected that and launched a pebble to the balloon as it passed Naruto, and if the red-head hadn't jumped backwards he would have been covered in pink paint.

But while the paint hadn't covered him, it had hit the ramen cup.

It had defiled The Ramen like it never had been defiled before.

It had turned the noodly goodness into an abomination, a crime against nature.

And someone had to pay.

* * *

***Half an hour later***

"Focus Megumi-chan, the strikes must flow from one to the other" It had been declared some time ago that Konohamaru was no longer able to train for the day, and so only Megumi and Moegi were left , "Don't exhaust yourself by hitting so hard Moegi, don't force yourself"

The two girls were currently practicing katas for the styles that each was being trained in; the roaring thunder and striking snake for Megumi and the standard academy style for Moegi.

While they practiced though, he would train a bit in his mindscape; he knew for a fact that there was a small part of it where no matter how hard he thought there would be no change, making it ideal for training at the speed of thought.

Creating a clone, Naruto started to meditate

* * *

***Mindscape***

"So, how's it coming along Socchi?" Kushina asked curiously.

Naruto had entered his mindscape, and after giving his other the mandatory hug and Kurama his mandatory fist/tail-bump, he had gone to the Zero-zone of his mindscape, where twenty red-heads were currently trying to make the chakra pillar wider.

The real Naruto was standing in front of both his mother and Kurama, who was silently snickering every time one of the mind-copies blew up their pillar.

"Not good" the kid admitted, "it's been two months and it's barely tall enough"

"**I still don't understand why don't you just create an army and use it to master the exercise**" said Kurama from his spot.

"Because it would be cheating" said Naruto

"Awww, sweetie," coed Kushina, an amused smile on her face, "we're ninja, if you don't cheat, you aren't trying"

"I have my code, let the Uchiha prick cheat, I prefer hard work" Naruto started to form a pillar of chakra, building it in a second before trying to widen it.

"**Kit's got a point Kushina**" Kurama nodded, "**as painful it is to admit it**"

Naruto growled, making his concentration waver and the pillar to bend a bit.

Naruto had one of his half-assed ideas, the ones that would end in pain and satisfaction; what if he didn't control the chakra, but let it move freely?

Kushina smiled at seeing her son getting an idea, before closing her eyes as a phantom pain hit her heart.

It had been thirteen years since her body had died, thirteen years without feeling alive,

She trusted her son; she knew he would eventually find a way to get her out of her prison, but that she trusted him didn't mean the imprisonment hurt any less.

Naruto, meanwhile, slowly but surely loosened his hold on the shell that surrounded the pillar, letting it occupy more space.

He felt his control slipping as the small but long string of chakra started to expand, the 'cat-tail' growing thicker.

The form started to lose stability, but Naruto re-did the shell around it , making it just thick enough so that it wouldn't break, but thin enough so it could bend.

"**HA, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY DID IT NARUTO**" shouted Kurama, calming down after a moment, "**I truly expected it to take you two more months**"

Kushina smiled at Naruto, before losing her composure and running to hug her son, "YEAH, YOU DID IT, DATTEBANE"

"WOOOOOO, FINALLY TTEBAYO" Naruto grinned up at her mother, hugging back with all his strength.

Behind them, Kurama smiled, remembering the few days he had had the chance to be a kid, before his father passed away.

* * *

***Tuesday*Jiraya***

"Alright gaki, today I'll introduce you to battle seals" Naruto's interest peaked immediately, "First though, I'll clear a misconception that should NOT exist in battle.

"Battle seals are only defensive, right?" Naruto nodded, uncertain of where the Pervert was going, "WRONG, ANY seal can be classed as a battle seal." Naruto's eyes widened, "What do you think if I tell you 'blood-weight seal?"

Naruto took only a few seconds to answer, "A weight seal that uses blood instead of chakra to activate"

"Could it be useful in battle?" Jiraya asked again, to the confusion of Naruto. Inside the seal, Kushina nodded to herself, as it had been something she and Naruto's father had discussed way back then.

Naruto shook his head, "No, the weights could be activated at any time you're bleeding"

Jiraya nodded, a smirk on his face, "And THAT, is what I'm talking about," Naruto tilted his head, a confused expression on his face, "What if you on your opponent and keyed it to yourself?"

"It would be the same, only it would take luck to activate it" Naruto answered, trying to link the dots on his head.

"One of the greatest fuinjutsu masters of all time was Uzumaki-Senju Mito-sama" Kushina nodded, thinking about her caretaker after Uzu was destroyed, "As Kyuubi could probably tell you, she was the one who rediscovered the jinchiriki creation.

"What distinguished her though, what made her THE mistress of seals, was the fact that she could create them with chakra in even less time that it would take me to do the hand-seals for my best technique, and it takes me less than a second to do it"

Naruto had his mouth opened in shock, his mind trying to process what the old pervert had just said.

"_It's true, you know_" said Kushina, lost in her own memories.

"_Kaa-chan?_"

"_Mito-baa-sama was the person who taught me seals, she took care of me after I lost my parents in Uzu, she would tall me of times when she would beat squads and squads of enemies with just a couple of seals__"_

"How?" he asked aloud, not realizing until Jiraya answered him.

"She practiced seals and thought outside the box when using them," Jiraya smiled a nostalgic smile, "I remember one time, when your mother was still a brat" Kushina growled from inside Naruto, "Sensei invited me to a dinner the Lady had offered to him, and everywhere I looked there were ideas of how to use seals in battle"

Naruto started going through the seals he knew, trying to think of some that might help him in his first battle at the finals: a ventilation seal might help when dealing with Fuu's dust, the water storage seal was already on his arm, he could use a weight seal on her, a resistance one, maybe modify the standard storage seal to store elemental jutsus, the heating or cooling seals might make her tire faster.

And so, household seals and battle seals became the same for Naruto.

* * *

***Wednesday*Yuugao***

"Ok Naruto, today, we start you on bukininjutsu" Thw two of them were standing on a more open training ground, one designed for destruction.

"Bukininjutsu?" asked Naruto, trying to get an image of what ninja weapon jutsu would look like.

"Yes," Yuugao nodded, knowing what he was thinking of, "bukininjutsu is the art of using weapons as foci for jutsu, like the Samurai in the land of Iron do"

Naruto pictured one of the photos that had been in one his academy books, one of a man that was holding his sword to the sky, a large wave of chakra flowing forward.

Yuugao read his thoughts, "Yes, like that chakra wave on the academy books," Yuugao took out one sword, "This is what ninja do, as opposed to samurai," her blade sparkled with lightning, "Bukiāto: Raiha buyō" from her sword a dozen lightning bolts came out, dancing around each other and landing on different places.

"SUGOI" said Naruto from his spot on the ground, "Onee-chan, that. Was. AWESOME" he lifted his hands at the exclamation, making Yuugao chuckle.

"Glad you liked it" she smiled, "But that is some of the most advanced stuff, so you won't be learning it for a while"

Naruto groaned; he wanted to look BADASS DATTEBAYO.

* * *

***Sunday*Iruka***

"Naruto, I would appreciate it if you didn't injure my students" They were once again sitting in a classroom, and Iruka was talking about Konohamaru, "On Tuesday he arrived with bruises on his arms, chest and back along with a black eye, care to explain?"

Naruto scowled at the memory, "brat got the idea to paint my ramen" he muttered.

Iruka rubbed his scar, "Be it as it may, it gave you no excuse to beat him into submission"

"He was trying to steal my throne"

Iruka looked at him from above his fingers, which still rested on his nose, "That's it, no other reason than 'he painted my ramen and tried to dethrone me'" Naruto nodded, "He flinched when I offered to treat him to ramen for lunch"

"He should know better than to mess with The Ramen", Naruto nodded to himself, "just be thankful that he didn't insult The Log"

Iruka sweat-dropped, "whatever, let's just start the lesson, today, we work on your range"

* * *

***Tuesday*Jiraya***

"All right Gaki, today I'm going to teach you a seal of my own" Jiraya took one of the scrolls from his pocket, "It is one that has saved my hide more than I care to admit"

The Perverted Sage ignored Naruto as he lit a fire in the middle of the clearing they were in, to the confusion of the boy.

That confusion turned to awe as the old man opened the scroll and the fire flew into it, leaving only the ashes behind.

"The fire consuming seal is incredibly useful, both in and out of battle," Jiraya's eyes unfocused, "I remember that one time I saved some people from a house fire," the man grinned lecherously, "But that's a story for another time" Jiraya tossed the scroll into the air, letting the fire come out again.

"Do you think it will help in my first fight?" asked Naruto.

"I'll be honest with you gaki" answered the white-haired pervert, "I made this seal to help me deal with fire users, if you can modify it to your needs, then you can consider yourself my full time apprentice" said Jiraya, '_Not that I wouldn't do it anyway, kid's as much fun to teach as Minato_'

Naruto grinned at the prospect, who in their right mind wouldn't want to be apprenticed by a Sannin, even ig if the man was a pervert.

The rest of the day was spent with Naruto trying to make the seal work for him

* * *

***Wednesday*Yuugao***

"Ok, enough of that, I'm showing you the first technique of a wind-weapon user" Naruto stopped channeling his wind chakra into his Talons, making them lose the white aura that had encase them, "It's basic really, if you've already learned the pressure wave technique then it shouldn't to hard, I'm going to show you, but with lightning, as it is my affinity"

Yuugao's sword started sparkling with static, which formed a thin wake of electricity as she swung her blade, the wave roasting the grass below it.

"That is a basic bukininjutsu, and every practitioner will always have his variations," the purple-haired ANBU sheathed her sword, "the beginning is the same as the elemental conversion, but you have make the element go forward as you swing, creating the attack," Naruto quickly channeled wind chakra into his Talons again, "Let's start now. Ok?"

* * *

**Not much to say, got Forza Horizon, got some pain-in-the-ass proyects, saw a movie.**

**Hmmmm...**

**Yeah that's pretty much it, so see you next week, or whenever.**


	37. The final week

**The last week**

***Monday*Morning***

Since Konohamaru had learned last week to not try to prank Naruto until he could defeat him in straight combat, the training session lasted longer and no one left with more than scratches.

The Uzumaki siblings had arrived at nine to an empty training ground, and as such the two had ran through some katas and some dexterity exercises so Megumi could make hand-seals faster and with no mess ups.

Meogi had arrived half an hour later and joined in the exercises, wanting to perform the academy three faster.

When Konohamaru arrived close to eleven, citing his mother not wanting him to leave until after his finished his breakfast, some kind of breakfast food that came from beyond the Nature Continent.

Once Konohamaru arrived Naruto started them on a second kind of low level chakra control exercise, the weapon balancing; more complicated than the leaf version, but still simple enough for a rookie to master it.

Naruto had them at it while he started on moving the chakra pillar to his tail-bone, to the last of the celestial gates.

Progress on that was WAY faster than the original exercise, since all he had to do was form it there and he had already completed the original, the only complication was that he couldn't see when the 'tail' was complete, so it could go anyway until he started to think of it as part of him.

As Shikamaru would say; troublesome.

The main problem was that the rational part of the brain, the part that controlled voluntary movement was NOT accustomed to the use of an extra limb, even if it was made of pure chakra.

That meant that all movement of the chakra tail would be made by the primal side of the mind, the part that very few humans, ninja or otherwise, learned to control.

Ero-sennin was one of those few, as according to him his training as a Sage had made him control that part of him, even if it was only temporary.

His summons would probably help in that, seeing that they needed total control over themselves or they would crush each other with their massive strength.

He would need to meet with the Boss first though.

"Let it wobble a bit if you need to re-gain control of the kunai" he said as he saw Kono start to get frustrated as the kunai kept being thrown off or dropping, "Regain the balance slowly, otherwise you'll just launch it"

He was NOT surprised that Megumi got easily, considering the girl had probably taken the Uzukage diary to look for more complicated, more rewarding control exercises.

Who knew you could keep your breath by actively channeling chakra to your lungs.

Plenty jonin and chunin did it, but he was PRETTY sure they did it without realizing.

Moegi was doing just a bit better than Kono, her kunai rotated around her finger steadily and only wavered from time to time, and not as violently as Konohamaru's.

The brats were coming along nicely.

Perhaps he could become a jonin at fifteen, make them his team, though that was unlikely.

* * *

***Jiraya*Tuesday***

"Alright gaki, you have showed some prowess during the last three weeks," The sage and the genin were sitting next to a lake, eating some rice balls from the bento Jiraya had bought, "You managed to summon a mid-level one, completed your strange control exercise, learned my fire absorption seal, found several ways to use battle seals, and made your calligraphy almost as good as mine" the white haired Sage put his hand on top of Naruto's hair, "Now, you have to complete the rasengan"

"NANI" Naruto shouted, "But I already mastered it, granted I can only make a perfect one with both hands, and it takes more time if I use only one, but it can't go further than that"

Jiraya laughed, "Gaki, the Yondaime wanted THE best close-to-long-range jutsu, he wanted mix nature and shape manipulation to the extreme" said the white-haired man, "do you think a melee technique that needs contact with the user is the complete version?"

"I-I, I just never thought about it, since there were no notes on the scroll" muttered Naruto

"Nothing to worry about, you learn something new every day" smiled Jiraya.

"YOSH" Naruto stood up and started a rasengan, "Any ideas how to make it work?"

Jiraya tried to look deep in thought while laughing sadistically in the inside, "Try throwing it, as good a start as any," make him repeat his own mistake as revenge for getting him beat up in a weekly basis.

Naruto looked a bit skeptical, so he undid the reasengan and created a clone, it doing the sphere and trying to throw it as it would throw a ball, but as soon as the ball disconnected from his palm it blew up, launching the clone backwards and into Jiraya, taking the air out of the Sage.

"You knew that would happen" said Naruto as he turned to the groaning man, "You wanted it to happen to me" he received an affirmative groan, "You do know I could to an inch of your life right?" the groan was questioning, "I made some people fear DOGS" this time it was a whimper, though it was still somewhat questioning, "I'm the King of Pranks for a reason"

Naruto kept creating clones after the first try, taking time to assimilate the memories since his last week would not use blood clones, so as to get used to the three weeks' worth of memories of the clones and better use his abilities during the tournament.

It just wouldn't do if gained it all suddenly, no control over things like that could be disastrous after all.

* * *

***Tuesday*Hospital***

Naruto found himself with a giant headache because of the memory feedback of his chisio bunshin.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem that a few hours of meditation and a little bit of Kurama's chakra couldn't heal.

But Jiraya had upped his gravity seals earlier that day with a flimsy excuse of training strength (really, even he recognized the revenge attempt), so most of the healing chakra was directed to healing his muscles.

Again, this wouldn't be a problem if he had had his first aid storage seal fully stocked up: he had antidotes, bandages, antibiotics, anesthetic drugs and a thermometer, but no headache meds.

It made him wonder how the heck he didn't think of day-to-day ailments.

So it was with a head split open, aching muscles and a question in his head, that Naruto entered the hospital, since most pharmacies and clinics didn't want to serve him.

He entered the room of one of the few doctors that had taken the Hippocratic Oath, since most were medic-NINJA, that meant they could still harm during missions, though the large majority that didn't take the Oath lost the traveling rights the few that DID take it, something the small countries hated.

"Uzumaki-san, I haven't seen you here since your last shot three years ago" said the doctor once Naruto entered his office, "Why is it that you broke your promise of never coming here unless for friends and critical condition?"

Naruto moved his hand and clutched his head, making the doctor sigh, "I told last time you came here for your first aid kit that you would need simple stuff too, but no, you had to be stubborn and take things that only works for the frontlines, make sure you listen to me next time, I studied medicine for a reason"

Naruto groaned, "Just drug me up"

"I will not 'drug you up'/_you wil not be drugged_" said the doc, "I can give you the Advil, just don't overuse it, three pills a day max, and only with migraines"

Naruto immediately took one, sighing in relief once he felt the effect take hold, "Thanks ero-sensei, see you in five months"

The doctor sighed as Naruto left; one time, ONE SINGLE TIME, and Naruto didn't leave the fact that he had been caught with an Icha-Icha book, even if it wasn't his.

When Naruto was on his way out, he met up with Shikamaru, who apparently had come down with indigestion because he ate too much meat.

They went together to visit him, fooling around for some time and doing the 'well-wishing friends' routine by torturing the chubby boy by eating chips slowly.

All the while, Naruto couldn't shake off the feeling that something important would happen.

* * *

***Friday***

Naruto arrived at the normal time, only to find the training ground deserted.

Shrugging, the red-head just started practicing the kaze suraisā, the first of many bukininjutsu techniques he would learn during his life, which would be incredibly long if he had any say on it.

However, as noon hit and Yuugao still hadn't arrived, Naruto got worried and left the training ground searching for his sister.

A few minutes of searching inside Konoha proved fruitless, as the only thing he found was one of Iruka's hidden things, but even as he stretched his senses, he couldn't feel her.

The young Uzumaki hurried along the main path, tensing more and more the more jonin he passed, they looked ready for war.

The red-head ignored Ichiraku's and kept moving, not stopping until he saw Fuu crying over the railing of one of the bridges that crossed the river.

He approached the crying girl, making a shadow clone and sending it to keep looking for Yuugao, "Hey, Fuu-chan, what's wrong?" he asked when he reached her.

The mint-haired girl looked at him with blood-shot eyes, and Naruto noticed tear tracks, "I-It, Hayate-sensei" Naruto knew it was serious since she used the actual name and not a nickname, "H-he was found d-dead this morning"

Blood drained from Naruto's face as soon as he heard that, If Fuu was feeling like that, then how must Yuugao be faring.

The red-head made a clone that held his hand out to Fuu, who looked at him questioningly, tears still falling down her face, "Go home with him, I'll join after I find Yuugao-nee"

The girl nodded, swallowing a sob as she grabbed the clone's arm.

Satisfied for the moment, the red-head set off to the cemetery.

* * *

***Cemetery***

Naruto found her next to a tomb, sitting on her legs and staring blankly at the flowers on the dirt,

The red-head sat next to her and hugged her hard, making the purplette let a few tears drop, but no sobs left her.

"Fu-chan told me what happened" he said.

Yuugo said nothing, so Naruto just kept hugging her, waiting for her to answer.

"You can cry you know, I won't tell anyone"

Yuugao shook her head, "No, he wouldn't want me to" she turned to look at Naruto, "I don't think you wouldn't either"

The two of them stayed in silence, Naruto still attached to Yuugao's side, "He had proposed to me, last weekend" Naruto looked at her, "I was so happy, I was starting my own family after my parents died, with the man I loved and my friends and little brother by my side, you and Kurenai-chan and Hana-chan would take care of them while I was on missions, and I would berate you every time you tried to spoil them"

Naruto just held her for an hour, until she put her mask back on and told him to go back home.

* * *

***Half an hour later*Naruto's building***

"Yo, Reddie, welcome back" said Fuu as soon as he stepped into the common area, "You know, I would think you and Purple cat have something going on with how you left me for her"

Naruto face-planted and got on her face as soon as he stood up, "SHE'S LIKE MY SISTER" he shouted, "I CAN'T EVEN THINK OF HER LIKE THAT"

"Who CAN you think of like that?" Fuu asked with mirth in her eyes.

"I'M NOT TELLING YOU THAT 'TTEBAYO"

"I only want to know if you think of me like that"

"What," it took him a few seconds for the question to register, "NO, well yes but…" he looked at her in the eyes and saw the amusement, "You cursed woman, and here I was coming to talk to you"

"AWWW, Naru-chan liiiiikes me" she laughed as he stormed away with an enraged huff, but she had acquired an important detail from him.

Oh, Fuu would have Naruto, that was for sure.

* * *

**The last scene came to me after I finished the scene with Yuugao, thought it would be good if I put there.**

**This chapter pretty much wrote itself, since I only had to think what I wanted to happen.**

**Now, most of you must know about the Hippocratic oath, it's not going to be important, but it fit in I put in.**

**For those that haven't even HEARD of it, here's a paraphrased version:**

**I swear to God and all deities of the world to keep this oath to the best of my abilities.**

**I will treat my teacher in the art as I would treat my parents, offer him susteinance shold he need it and consider his sons and duaghter my brethren, and to teach anyone who asks as long as he follows this.**

**I will write prescriptions to the needen medicine and only that, never willingly arming anyone.**

**I will not help anyone with their death, nor will I give a mother an abortive.**

**I will keep my art pure.**

**I will NOT perform a surgery on a field I'm not specialised in and leave it to the ones that are.**

**When visiting a house I will enter only for the cunsult and won't accept sex as payment.**

**I will keep secret everything my patient doesn't want to be spread, for it is his secret to tell.**

**If I keep on this Oath, then I can enjoy life, fortune an respect, if I don't, then may I rot in hell.**

**Some of the things there would really help in times like our own, too bad It's not an obligation to take the oath.**

**That's all for this week, smell ya' later.**

**Ja ne**


	38. Finals start

**The finals start**

***Konoha Public Arena*low noon***

Naruto looked around the arena to the stands, where at least a thousand people stood cheering, waiting for the exiting battles to begin, "Looks like an easy crowd, ne?" he said

"You say that now, I expect them to shout when it's Pineapple's match"

Hagane snorted from his place besides Naruto, "Yeah, lazy bum will probably just flunk it"

Shikamaru glared at them, "I have to fight a troublesome blonde woman," his gaze turned to the sky, "if that's not enough reason to forfeit, then nothing is"

"You're so lazy you will probably arrive late to your funeral" said Fuu.

"Are you kidding, letting other people carry you around and looking at the clouds forever," he glanced at them, "when the time comes I'm going to let it happen, until then I'll rely on my brain"

"And when it fails?" asked Hagane.

"Then I will do as Naruto does" answered the Nara, "be troublesome to the enemy"

"I'm not troublesome 'ttebayo" said the red-head

"Yes you are," answered the three.

"You don't think I'm troublesome, right Shino?"

"I'm afraid that you are Naruto" answered the Aburame, "you are simply not logical"

Fuu and Hagane tried to hold their guffaws inside, but only succeded partially, making Naruto curl on the ground and start drawing on the dirt.

Fuu leaned forward to look at her opponents, but noticed two people missing, "Oi, Metal Boy, think you can beat Girly Boy?" asked the greenette, making even the sulking Naruto snicker a bit.

Hyuuga Neju was one of the people still missing, along with Uchiha Sasuke, "Yeah, dude is going to be easy, I just have to break his fingers" Naruto glanced up and stared at him along with Fuu and Shikamaru, making the Kinzoku shrug, "Dude relies on his fingers, I cover in metal and Ta-dah"

Shikamaru blinked, "That could work"

Hagane nodded proudly, "And it took me the morning to think it up"

"So you were just gonna wing it?" asked Fuu

"Pretty much, yeah" answered the metal user, "So Fuu, Naruto, any plan against each other?"

"Two, three if I get time" answered the Nanabi jinchuriki.

Naruto stood up and grinned, "I planned for everyone I know I'll fight"

"You sound like you think you're going to win Reddie" said Fuu.

"I KNOW I'm going to win" he leaned forward, "Fuu-sa-ma"

The girl growled, "Want to repeat that tomato?"

He butted her head, "Don't call me tomato, lettuce"

"Fishcake"

"Faller"

"Foxface"

"Beatle body"

A throat being cleared snapped them out of the insult trading, making them blush.

"If you two stopped flirting" said the new proctor, making them blush even harder and those around them chuckle, "The Hokage is about to announce the start of the tournament, so remember the rules; Stop when I say, Start when I say and try to keep the collateral damage to the minimum"

"So, get wild and avoid the crowd?" asked Hagane.

The proctor shrugged, "Pretty much yeah."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," the Hokage called out, "WELCOME TO THE FINALS OF THE BI-ANNUAL CHUNIN SELECTION EXAMS," the people on the stands cheered, "THE FIGHTS WILL BE SEPARATED BY FIVE MINUTE INTERVALS TO ALLOW TIME FOR NECESSITIES, WITH NO MORE ADO, LET THE FIGHTS BEGIN!"

"You heard the Man, for those that don't remember, the fights are as follow" the proctor held out a chart.

**Judge: Shinranui Genma**

**Round one:**

**Match 1: Kinzoku Hagane vs. Hyuuga Neji**

**Match 2: Fuu vs. Uzumaki Naruto.**

**Match 3: Aburame Shino vs. Sabaku no Kankuro.**

**Match 4: Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari.**

**Match 5: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara.**

**Round two:**

**Match 6: Winner of match 1 vs. winner of match 2.**

**Match 7: Three way fight with winners of matches 3, 4 and 5.**

**Final: Winner of match 6 vs. winner of match 7.**

"As you know winning or losing don't affect your chances" continued Genma, "But if you win you have a better shot at showing off"

The contestants nodded, Naruto finally standing up from his sulking, "So we just have to show off to get the promotion?" Asked Fuu.

"No" answered Genma, "Showing off helps, but a ninja is also supposed to plan ahead, specially a chunin, since everyone on the rank make up more than half the force." The chunin-hopefuls nodded in understanding, "right, so, everyone but Kinzoku-san and Hyuuga-san go up to the participant booth and wait for your turn"

Everyone but the two walked to the small doorway with the stairs leading up to the booth, the Konoha applicants talking to each other while the older of the Suna siblings whispered to each other.

"Ne, Fuu-chan, think Hagane will win?" asked Naruto.

"Metal Boy is over confident, be he has reason, so yeah" answered the greenette.

The two turned to the opening on the wall and stared at the arena ground.

"Alright you two" Genma shifted the senbon in his mouth, "Please remember you're from the same village, so don't try to kill each other, ready?" the two nodded, "Good, HAJIME" the proctor jumped back.

"You should give up now" said Neji as he slid into a loose but ready jyuuken stance, "fate has already named me the winner of this match"

"Yeeeaaaah, how about no?" Hagane turned his arms into spearheads, "sorry, but the only thing I believe is in the beauty of the female body"

* * *

Half of the people on the stands growled.

"Did he really just say that?" Kurenai turned to Haku, who slapped her face, hard.

"I'm afraid he's been like that since he was ten" answered the Yuki.

Yuugao put her hand on Haku's shoulder and patted it pitifully, "you have my pity for having to stand him"

Haku shook he head, "I've gotten used to it, unfortunately."

* * *

"If you shall ignore fate, then I will enforce its will" said Hyuga.

"Whatever" Hagane charged with his arms ready to impale the Hyuuga, but the dark-haired boy moved around the sweeps made by the Kinzoku.

The Hyuuga jumped back and took out a kunai, which he used to parry the strikes coming from Hagane.

One of the parries made Hagane overextend his reach and left him open for some palm strikes on the chest.

The iron-eyed boy brought his left arm close to his torso and changed it to become a shield rather than a spear, making the Hyuuga wince as his fingers struck the hard metal.

"Rule number one when fighting me or Naruto-Kakyu" Hagane ignored the shout coming from the competitors' booth, "is you don't go for close range"

He pushed the shield forward, making a pike spring up from the middle of it.

Neji jumped back to avoid being impaled by the blade, and growled as the Kinzoku grinned mockingly at him.

"Tetsuso: Daikishin" a massive amount of knifes flew towards Neji as Hagane thrust his hands forwards, but the Hyuuga used his considerable speed to run out of the way of the barrage.

"It's no use, I will win this battle" the Hyuuga said as he ran towards Hagane again, his palms shining with chakra.

"Aha, 'cause I care about you" Hagane dodged the palm strikes as they came, laughing in an attempt to get the Hyuuga to get sloppy.

Hagane used a brief pause on the attacks to jump to one of the trees and form some hand-seals, "this is something I've been working on, be glad" the copper-haired teen jumped from the tree and clapped his hands before thrusting the right one forward as he said, "Tetsuso: keibō kōgeki"

Hagane's hand turned into a club that then expanded to reach enough length to reach Neji, whose eyes widened, "kaiten" the dark-haired Hyuuga spun in place, making a large dome of chakra appear around him and a dust cloud to spring up.

The club disconnected from Hagane, making the teen grunt in slight pain and clutch his arm, still unused to the effect disconnecting the club had on him, "did I get him?" he asked himself, "Tetsuso: kunai" the knifes flew from his arms before the dust could settle and a cry of pain reached his ears.

The dirt settled to show a relatively uninjured Neji, though his arms and legs were covered with shallow cuts.

Hagane walked slowly forwards, his guard up even though Neji looked unable to fight.

He regretted thinking that five seconds later, when the Hyuuga said, "you are within the field of my divination"

Two palms, Hagane had little time to reinforce his body before the strikes came.

Four palms, The Kinzoku managed to completely cover his chest.

Eight palms, his arms refused to turn to metal.

Sixteen palms, slowly his shoulders turned into metal, but the rest of his arms remained uncovered,

Thirty two palms, the cover reached his elbows and refused to move any further.

Sixty four palms, the barrage of palm strikes stopped, and Hagane fell onto his back, smirking a bit.

"See, you were fated to lose from the beginning," Neji noticed a pain on his fingers, so he looked down and cried in extreme pain.

Half the bones on his hands were broken, a result of hitting Hagane when the latter had his chest turned to iron.

Hagane stood up slowly, chuckling at the look the Hyuuga gave him, "I told you, when fighting either me or Naruto, never, EVER, go for close range," the Kinzoku grinned, "We're just that good"

Genma looked at Neji, who was trying not to let his pain show but failing miserably, "Shousa, Kinzoku Hagane!" the crowd cheered, "I suggest you go to the medics for those hands of yours, I believe it's painful"

The Hyuuga scowled, but turned around as Hagane called him, "Try to make your own path, life is funnier that way"

* * *

***Chunin officer booth***

Colonel Hiro turned to his subordinates, "What do you think?" he asked

"The Hyuuga was too arrogant, Shinranui-san told me what he said at the beginning of the fight" answered Kotetsu.

"The metal-body user was cocky, the reason he was caught on the Hyuuga's last attack, but he managed to make a plan be for that" said Izumo.

Hiro nodded, "Yes, but they do have the potential," he looked around the room, "I'll reserve judgment for the Kinzoku to a later round, the Hyuuga will have to wait until later"

The chunnin in the room nodded in agreement, not that they could challenge the word of their commanding officer.

* * *

***Kage booth***

"Interesting bloodline there, Hokage-dono" said the disguised Orochimaru.

Hiruzen looked at him, knowing that the kazekage had little to no care about bloodlines other than the shakuton and jinton, both rare outside the two founding families of Suna, "Indeed, I was quite surprised when the boy came here with one of my teams"

"I wonder how he would fare against my son" another inconsistency, the Kazekage had no ties to his family other than blood.

"I wouldn't put my money on him, Kazekage-dono," replied Hiruzen, "Uzumaki-kun has always been surprising"

* * *

**Tetsuso: Daikishin: great spearhead barrage.**

**Tetsuso: keibō kōgeki: Giant club attack**

**Finally, chapter out.**

**I** **had fun writting the fight, they are my favorite kind scenes.**

**Don't expect an update until the next weekend, schedule had been tight with projects and exams piling up.**

**Review.**

**Ja ne.**


	39. Beetle vs Fox

**Beatle vs Fox**

***Arena*Konoha*noon***

Hagane arrived to the competitor's booth just in time to see Naruto hit him with all his strength, "WHAT THE HELL, NARUTO?" the Kinzoku asked.

"That's for calling me 'kakyu'" growled the red-head

"But I AM your senior," whined Hagane.

"That gives you no reason to call me little!" shouted Naruto.

"You're younger than me, you even call me sempai!"

"Because you started training before I did"

"Whose fault is it?"

The rest of the finalist (with the exception of Gaara) looked at the two as they argued over what the proper suffix for Naruto should be, laughing at the exchange.

"Do they do this often?" a bemused Temari asked a laughing Fuu.

"Nearly every week" answered the greenette.

"Shouldn't you stop your boyfriend?" asked the blond.

Fuu blushed a bit, "he isn't my boyfriend" she then whispered, "_yet_"

Temari laughed a bit, "I envy you a bit," Fuu looked curious, "Well, since I'm the Kazekage's daughter, and my brother's sister, most people in Suna are intimidated"

"Must be awful" said Fuu pityingly.

"It was, doesn't help that I had fanboys"

Fuu shivered, "Creepy bastards"

"Amen"

* * *

***Five minutes later*Arena floor***

Genma made the two teens come close to him before the start of the match, "Listen you two, Hokage-sama told me of your situation," the jinchuriki looked at each other and back at the proctor, "There is another rule for you two, don't tap into THEM, understood?"

The two teens nodded and locked eyes, flames burning in them, eager for a fight to see who had gotten better over the month.

"To your ends, and get ready" the two complied, "on the count of three: one, two, three, HAJIME"

The two didn't move for seconds after Genma jumped back, "Still think you're going to win, Reddie?" Taunted Fuu.

"Still think you have a chance, Greene" Naruto shot back.

The two stayed silent for a minute, waiting for the first mistake of the battle: The one who rushes first.

Naruto called out his talons, Fuu taking out two kunai, paying attention to what Hagane had said during his own fight: don't fight them without weapons.

Whispers started to break out in the crowd, and taking that as a signal to start already, the two rushed at each other, meeting at the center of the arena.

Sparks flew as soon as they met each other, Naruto smiling cockily at the fact that he was not at his full yet, even though he was struggling against Fuu's strength with his limiter seals on.

He channeled chakra into his chest, deactivating the restrictions on his muscles marking the difference almost as soon as the limiters faded.

The girl was pushed back, her kunai trembling with the force she had to apply to them so they stayed in her hands.

Naruto moved his hands so they would still be engaged with Fuu's kunai while letting him perform hand-seals, something Fuu noticed and feared.

During his self-training periods of the past month, Naruto had learned how to properly use hand-seals without leaving his hayabusa no Tsume weaker while he molded chakra, something that had given him problems during the few bandit clearing missions he had done since Fuu had joined Konoha.

This served especially in moments like this, where his hands were busy in a lock and his adversary was probably more flexible than him.

It was in the job description of kunoichi to be flexible.

As it was, the only thing keeping Fuu from using he legs to kick his from under him was the fact that she had to use all of her strength, more than TenTen's, who had trained her arms to be strong enough to launch her weapons close to five hundred meters.

He still didn't understand how the girl could hit a bull's-eye from so far away.

He casted the Mizu tsugite no jutsu and Fuu got some confidence when his arms buckled, a confidence she lost as soon as his leg rose to an almost impossible angle and tried stabbing her arm.

"WHAT THE HELL?" the girl screamed, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

The crowd all felt a little disgusted to see the kid bend at an angle that should only be possible in nightmares.

A knee isn't supposed to bend that way.

A leg is only meant to bend at 90° degrees.

Naruto, a bit grossed at himself, only smirked, "That would be telling, but isn't it a nice trick, 'ttebayo?"

He hadn't mastered the jutsu to its finest, Yuugao and Iruka had said as much, but he was good enough to hold control of it for over ten minutes, hopefully enough to beat Fuu.

Knowing his luck, it would NOT be enough.

Fuu, not wanting to get caught in another stalemate, used her own hand-seals and called out, "Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu"

From the girl's mouth came out a fine powder, something that made Naruto confused until the powder started shining.

It was only annoying at first, a spark at the edge of his vision, but the it started to shine so bright it blinded him for a moment, something that Fuu capitalized on.

As Naruto covered his eyes in pain, Fuu used the time given to her by the jutsu to make another, more offensive, jutsu.

People assumed, wrongly so, that because the orange-eyed girl was from Taki she had a suiton affinity like most people from that village.

They couldn't be further away from the truth.

Because of her Biiju, The Seven-Tailed Rhino-Beatle, an EARTH creature with WIND abilities, her main affinity was earth, with wind being a close second.

It was because of this that she had struggled to learn the three jutsus Takigakure asked for on graduating students: the water sword, water clone and water wall.

She had learned to use the earth versions of the latter two, and later on replaced her water sword with the gansekiha, the earth version of the elemental blade.

Before coming to Konoha, a village that had one of the most extensive technique libraries of the world, courtesy of Hatake Kakashi and some Uchiha, her knowledge of earth and wind jutsu had been almost nonexistent, now though…

Now she could do some awesome things, "Doton: Chikyū shadanki no jutsu" she smashed her fists into the ground, the elemental chakra causing the floor to divide in platforms, some of them rising and some sinking.

This caused Naruto to lose his control and bend in a weird way, with his ankles close to his back.

The red-head shook his head and bent out-of-the-way of a diving kick from Fuu, snapping his leg towards her own and managing to cut her leg a bit.

The Uzumaki stood up and looked around, assessing the damage done to the battleground by Fuu's jutsu.

It looked like a scene out of a disaster.

From where he was standing, one of the few platforms that stayed on their original place, he could see only about half of the place, the rest being covered by higher places.

He jumped to the highest platform; he was convinced it was the best place to properly get a good look at all the possible hiding places.

Fuu though, had anticipated that and was waiting for him there, a rock claymore on her hands.

His first thought on seeing that was '_wicked,_' his second was, '_Oh damn'_ and his third was among the lines of '_she looks great_'.

Claws and sword clashed as soon as Naruto landed and his legs lashed out again, but Fuu had also encased her shins with a rock guard and she used them to block his feet.

This time the deadlock turned in Fuu's favor, the extra weight of the massive sword, nearly a meter-and-a-half in length, pushing Naruto back.

Naruto canceled his water-joint technique as soon as he felt his limbs start shaking, making him wince as his bones went back to their original positions.

It was time to start plan B.

While his last week with Jiraya had not given the promised ranged rasengan, it had given him two variations: the kamikaze rasengan, what Jiraya had tried to trick him into doing, and the rasenha, something he had found he could do when training bukijutsu with Yuugao.

The kamikaze rasengan had been demoted to a 'clone only' technique due to the obvious risk; it would probably maim both target and user, while the rasenha was a 'blade only' technique, as it applied the drilling force of the rasengan to his talons.

Fuu got curious as the golden claws Naruto was wearing started to look as if they were in the middle of a whirlpool.

The curiosity turned to anger when she saw that her blade, one of the densest constructs she could make, started to chip.

She disengaged and swung her claymore again before Naruto could compensate for the change of balance.

Said boy could only block and grunt as the blade came down on him time after time, but he was still smiling, knowing that eventually the sword would break in two.

Indeed, on the swing number twenty the crack that had appeared on Fuu's rock blade finally crossed it fully, making the upper meter fall to the floor.

The red-head kicked Fuu in the stomach and jumped back while making hand-seals.

The greenette had the same idea as soon as she recovered though, so they were in a competition of dexterity now.

"**FUUTON: RENKUDAN**" the two shouted in tandem.

The bullets met mid-air, raising a dust cloud over the platform they were standing on, a distraction Naruto used to the fullest.

He stuck to the side of the platform with his back and started to concentrate on his latest addition to his arsenal.

His first tail.

Slowly he felt the change on his chakra, feeling like a bucket of water had been dumped on him as soon as the chakra took the form of a fox's tail.

His control over it was still as good as a one-year-old kid, good for short bursts but mostly sloppy, it also couldn't go as far as Kurama's, but it was still useful, more so right now.

The red-head felt Fuu's chakra move, meaning she had jumped to another platform.

Plan C started now.

Carefully and silently, Naruto moved around the edge of the platform, wanting to get to where Fuu was, so he could end the battle.

The girl jumped again, this time getting further away from the ledge Naruto was using.

As soon as he could see her Naruto blasted off the side of the platform, getting faster every time his feet hit the ground.

Fuu turned around in time to see Naruto tackle her to the floor, resulting in another dust cloud.

The spectators all looked in a tense silence, waiting for the moment the dust settled, showing the winner.

As soon as it did they all gasped.

Naruto had Fuu under him with his chakra tail ready to pierce into her, while Fuu had managed to form a spear on each side of Naruto, piercing the skin of his chest.

Genma calmly walked up to them, snickered a bit, and raised his hand, "draw by deadlock" the crowd groaned, feeling the drain on their pockets, "sorry kids, but none of you passes to the next round," Naruto didn't like the smile, "now get off your girlfriend kid, that kind of thing is meant to stay in the bedroom."

Naruto blinked, then jumped away as if struck, his face as red as his hair, "Sh-she's not my…we-we're not…damn you" the boy stomped away, his head hidden by his hands.

Fuu looked at where he had gone with amusement a small bit of anticipation.

She ignored the crowd and walked away; she had plans to make.

* * *

***Chunin colonel booth*minutes later***

"Comments anyone?" Hiro asked his underlings.

"I say we give the promotion to the Uzumaki, I could see the gears turning in his head on both engagements, and his control over chakra was amazing"

"Not only that, the creepy thing with his legs cab be dead useful, it speaks a lot about his muscle control"

"What bout you Iruka, got anything to say on the brat?"

The man smiled, "Just that I'm proud of him"

Hiro looked at the file in his hands and wrote, in big official letters, **PROMOTED**, "What about the girl".

"Great potential, but her emotional control is bad"

One of the men nodded, "Her anger got the better of her when her sword started cracking, she should have used her legs better"

"Her special awareness is also bad; she should have felt the kid as soon as he was five meters off."

Iruka sighed and spoke up, "She isn't a sensor, and as a recently transferred ninja she doesn't know basic sensing"

"How long has she been in the village?" asked Hiro.

Kotetsu answered, "Close to four months, since February this year."

"And it is June already," muttered the Colonel, "alright, she doesn't get the promotion, but she will most likely win it in December"

The chunin in the room nodded and looked back out the window.

* * *

***Kage booth***

The Kazekage chuckled, "What an interesting pair," inwardly though, Orochimaru was intrigued; just what was that jutsu?

Hiruzen nodded, "Yes, both have grown during their time in the force"

The Kazekage looked at him, "What was with the tail? I don't believe I've seen anything like it"

Sarutobi frowned, "I don't know, Naruto hasn't told me anything about that"

"So you know not of it?"

HIruzen shook his head, "I only know that it is his creation."

Under his veil, Orochimaru grinned, "A new jutsu from Konoha, the last one was the Hiraishin, am I right?

The Hokage nodded, "Yes, though everyday people find new uses to old jutsu"

The Kazekage stayed silent.

* * *

**And that is the second fight of the finals, and if you're surprised by the end of it, you have a good reason, I was too.  
**

**Now, I got some good/bad new, depending on how you see it:  
**

**I have been hit with inspiration for Harry Potter and the Mexican Mages, therefore I will leave this story for my two weeks of easter break.**

**I will be back with this as soon as easter break ends.**

**On the bright side (for me at least) I GOT TWO WEEKS' VACATION.**

**See you the 7th.**

**Ja ne**


	40. Battles

**Battle of wits and of loners**

***Konoha arena*Past noon***

"Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru, please come down to the arena," Genma called from one of the platforms that Fuu had formed with her jutsu.

The blond from Suna did so immediately, using her fan to ride the air on the way down, and the proctor had to admit that she had style.

Shikamaru however just looked on to the arena with a lazy eye to most, but analytical to any member of his clan, sometimes it laziness served a purpose after all.

'_Ground is raised and lowered in many parts, lots of shadows to use. Trees downed, not much cover, just enough to protect from kunai. Bushes, will serve to hide if needed. Ambush success rate, at least three quarters, probably more if I can get her on the edge of a lower platform and stand on the other side myself, but that will leave me open_' Shikamaru's eyes widened as he saw the wall rush past his face, and he hit the ground with a thud.

"You're welcome Pinapple-Head," Fuu shouted from the competitor's booth.

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru muttered, '_damit, she didn't recognize my staling, I didn't have enough time to think for contingency plans and my back hurts already, a handicap before the fight even begins,_' his face set on an annoyed scowl, "maybe I should just quit" he said out-loud only to dodge a pan that came out of no-where.

"IF YOU FORFEIT YOU'LL BE DOING ALL THE CHORES OF THE HOUSE FOR A MONTH" shouted Nara Yoshino from her seat next to her husband.

'_Mendokuzei_'thought both Nara, father and son.

Grudgingly, Shikamaru made his way to the, more or less, center of the arena, where Temari and Genma were waiting for him, "Are you sure you don't want to forfeit now?" asked Genma to the lazy teen.

Shikamaru shook his head, "Nah, as troublesome as she is" he ignored the angry shout, "my mother can be more so"

"Right," said Genma, already remembering the stories of fearsome angry Nara women, "You ready?" he turned to Temari.

The blonde woman nodded and grabbed her fan, holding it in front of her and opening it.

"Hajime!" Genma shunshined out the way while Shikamaru, in an impressive show of energy, for a Nara that is, jumped back and onto another, lower platform, narrowly dodging a gust of wind from Temari.

"Come back here you coward!" Temari shouted.

"No way, you'll kill me" replied Shikamaru and Temari jumped down to his platform, attacking him with a kamaitachi.

Shikamaru dodged the wind sickle and jumped back again, making his family's rat hand-seal as soon as he landed, making his shadow stretch towards Temari, who backpedaled at the same speed the shadow stretched.

The shadow struggled for a few seconds before going back to Shikamaru, who scowled in annoyance, "Troublesome woman, couldn't you stay where you were?"

"Why would I? You were about to catch me with that shadow of yours," the blond from Suna replied, "The match would be over"

Shikamaru started to jump from platform to platform, all the while trying to evade all of Temari's attacks, but still getting some of the gusts, resulting in him getting cut up in some parts of his body.

None too important though, he wouldn't like to get one of the gusts _there_, the pain would be unbearable.

He finally got to the lowest platform, one where shadows covered the edges and some parts of the center, the perfect place to ambush his opponent.

It also was the worse place to fight her head on, so hopefully he would get her before she had the chance to attack.

She landed in front of him and he put his hand to the back of his head, looking at the sky above, '_Oh what I wouldn't give´_ he thought' '_to be a cloud in the sky, just drifting along to where the wind takes me, that is the life I want_' he looked at Temari who was scowling at him and building up chakra.

"Kamaitachi no jutsu" the girl shouted and let the wind scythe fly to Shikamaru, who barely dodged it, losing some of his clothes and hairs.

The girl was about to let another attack loose, but her arms refused to move, "Kagemane no jutsu, success," he said as a shadow extended from the sides of the platform to connect both gennin through their feet, "you shouldn't have come down; it would have made the match more interesting, and troublesome."

"How?" a shocked and angry Temari asked.

"Shadows, my clan can use them as we please, you figure it out" the lazy teen answered, "it was easy to win when the shadows grow so much in this part" Shikamaru extended his right arm, Temari mimicking him.

'_I am going to the next round_' the Nara raised his hand, '_It will get my mother off my back for a week,_' Temari's war-fan glinted in the sunshine, '_but it is troublesome to fight again, so I should_' he ran his left hand through his hair, "I forfeit" he said, to the shock of the crowd and amusement of his father.

His mother would be angry no doubt.

"Seriously?" a stupefied Temari half-asked/half-shouted, "Why?"

Genma snorted as he came down, "really girly, you shold have done research into the Naras, the whole clan is full of lazy bastards" the jonin tried to keep from laughing, "it's no surprise really."

Shikamaru grunted, "I'm running low on chakra, my right arm is numb, I can't feel my left leg, and I'm pretty sure you got my side once," he said, "even if I wanted, and I don't, I couldn't continue in the next round"

Hopefully that would still get his mother off his back, besides; he wasn't really going for the promotion.

"Shousa, Sabaku no Temari"

* * *

***Chunin colonel booth***

"Right, anything to say?" asked Hiro

"Not much," answered one of the chunin inside the booth, "the Nara has the potential, if not the drive, to be a good squad leader, but he only ran away from the girl, so he's not suited for a frontline"

"Yeah, but there are only some Nara that actually are suited for that" replied another one, "a Nara is always welcomed in ambush squads, capture too."

"Shikamaru is not yet ready I'm afraid," said Iruka, making everybody look at him, "He has great potential, and will most likely take over the role of Lead Strategist and Jonin Comander, but he just doesn't train unless forced, that's what his sensei said when I asked him"

Hiro nodded and stayed silent for a few minutes, "We'll let his actions of today talk for him," the room frowned, "depending on how he does in the invasion is he'll get or won't get the promotion, if he can prove himself then he wins the rank"

A few murmurs went around the room, as it was technically a field promotion, something not done since the third war, but in the end everyone nodded.

* * *

***Competitor's box***

An annoyed yet amused Naruto welcomed Shikamaru to the booth when the lazy boy walked up the stairs, "you lazy bastard" the red-head grinned, "you had to flunk it"

The Nara looked at him, "I just want to rest, you troublesome idiot," the teen went to the door that led to the infirmary, "I'll be sleeping if you need me"

Fuu, who had been staring at the sky with narrowed eyes and slightly open mouth during Shikamaru's match, came up to him and asked, "What with Pineapple-head?"

Naruto chuckled, "he's always been like that," the red-head answered, "He likes to sleep and look at clouds, anything else, sometimes even eating, is much to 'troublesome' for him"

"Sounds like he shouldn't be a ninja" muttered the greenete, making Naruto smile at her amusedly.

"Oh, he's suited alright," he said, "he's smart as hell, the only one that can beat me at chez, but that's because I just move the pieces and catch everyone off-guard, and he didn't need to cheat during the first test, he is what I'll never be dattebayo"

Fuu giggled, knowing that the red-head was only smart in the long run and on his feet, not on beforehand planning and strategizing, "so he's lazy and smart?" the orange-eyed girl asked.

Naruto nodded, "all his clan is," the red-head answered, "Maybe it is part of the kekkei genkai" he muttered thoughtfully.

"Eh whatever," Fuu threw her arm around his shoulder, pressing herself against him, "say, wanna go out for ramen when this is over?" the girl asked.

Naruto looked at her oddly, "as long as you pay your part" he answered, "I don't want to go broke."

Fuu pouted, as that would take out not only the satisfaction of free, for her, ramen, but part of the date feeling of what she wanted, "fine" she said.

"_Oh, my little Naru-chan is going on his first date!_" Kushina squealed inside his mindscape.

Naruto blushed, to the confusion of those around him, '_Kaa-chan, it is not a date_' but his words were ignored, '_that was badass_' he idly noted as Gaara made sand clone appear from a sand tendril that had caught some shuriken.

"_Oh, yes, she and you, eating out in a restaurant…_"

'_It's Ichiraku's_'

"…_Having a nice dinner under the candlelight, and then you'll take her home and you'll kiss her on the porch_"

'_She lives on the first floor of my building, and there is no porch, I think her apartment is the smallest one_' Naruto frowned.

Kurama then decided to add his part, "_**And then, a few years from now you'll be mating and having kits of your own**_'

Naruto blushed bright red, '_KURAMA!_' he shouted in his mind.

"_And you should really find a way to let me out by then, I want to spoil my grandchildren_" Kushina pouted.

Naruto frowned, his blush going down some, '_Ero-sennin already gave the key to my summons, I just have to win it_'

Kurama snorted "_**HA, the way you're going it will take you 'till you're twenty**_"

'_Want to bet 'ttebayo?_'

"_**Bring it**_"

The sound of chirping birds made his head turn to the arena to see Sasuke with his right pal covered in lightning and looking at a sand dome.

* * *

***Arena***

'_I can only do this twice'_ Sasuke thought as he looked at the dome that rested a few meters away from him, '_If I can nick him, then I'll probably win, but I'll fight the girl at half my strength, worth it_' the dark-haired boy ran at full speed, a blur to most untrained eyes, and buried his lightning covered hand into the sphere that surrounded Gaara.

But Gaara had known he had to dodge when his 'eye' had seen the technique, and so had moved farther back into his dome and compressed it, making it harder.

It wasn't enough.

The hand pierced through the sand and the arm attached through it entered the sphere, catching Gaara off-guard and nicking his shoulder.

"Blood?" a tiny voice, "IT IS MY BLOOD"

And then it all went to hell

* * *

**And so starts the invasion, with two matches, one done different, as I think I'm the first one to do something like what I did, and just picture the same as canon, only with platforms instead of even ground.**

**Now, nearly one week after the end of my 2 week break periond of all but my Mexican mages story.**

**Some of you, those that read on the HP fannon may have read the story 'A Different Result' a story with the same basic theme as this one, a mother's soul getting a ride on her son's body, but the theme is the only thing similarly done as I did it differently, as it is magic instead of chakra, those that haven't read it, go to my profile and please do.**

**The updates will go back to (hopefully) once a week, and I say hopefully because from now on I'll have a busy life: my school is doing an outing, I'm going to Chicago with my family on the 20 (no computer) to the 25, then I have to catch up on homework the next week, then projects, a musical presentation on May, my final reviwes, my finals.**

**So yeah, hope for the best, expect the worse, so no one gets dissapointed.**

**one thing before I leave, it is something I have to say.**

**BLEEDING CLIFHANGERS, I was reading a book, from a series, you can guess.**

**Last thing before I leave: OVER 200 ALERTS AND FAVORITS, thank you to all of those that have, it feels amazing as a writer to be that recognized**

**Ya ne**


	41. Invasion

**Invasion**

***Konoha Arena*Afternoon***

All at the same time, the Kage box was shrouded with smoke, several places around the village exploded and feathers fell from the sky.

Everyone felt drowsy and all civilians along with some ninja fell asleep, most gennin falling to the sleep inducing illusion.

The jonins dispelled the illusion almost as soon as it was cast and several groups of civilians stood up to fight the Otogakure ninja that had sprung up everywhere, showing themselves to be ANBU, and most of the chunin and jonin present following the example.

In a matter of minutes the village had fallen into chaos; skirmishes were taking place everywhere, the hot-spots had been victims of guerilla warfare, summons could be seen over the walls and civilians could be seen running towards the only untouched place, the Hokage Mountain.

The gennin that had been in participating in the finals were no exception to the chaos: the two Suna siblings jumped out the box and picked up their brother before anything could be done, Shino ran out the door and into the stands to go to the infirmary, while Naruto and Fuu fell prey to the genjutsu.

An attempt from Naruto to release himself from the sleep resulted on a small pulse that managed to drive the blackness off but still left him yawning, something that he had never done outside of mornings and nights.

Now with his mind relatively clear, he started to build up chakra, unintentionally drawing on Kurama's chakra, making the bulb on his center to turn a dark purple.

He released the pulse, making a clear dome expand around the village, disrupting all the jutsu in the inside and perimeter; illusions failed, ninjutsus wavered, the summoned animals recoiled as if struck and the summoning circles broke.

Fuu woke up and the red-head's mind cleared totally, leaving him ready to leave.

"Fuu, come, we need orders" Naruto didn't wait for her answer and ran out the door, his claws appearing instantly and getting covered in the rasenha a few seconds later.

It was great that the only chakra output needed for the rasengan and its variations was that needed for it to form, and as soon as it was formed, the only thing needed for it to stay was the concentration needed for the rotation to keep going.

Since he had three minds in his body, one of them could always keep an eye on the rotation, leaving Naruto to concentrate only on the battle.

It had however, the same drawback than using more of Kurama's youki than he could handle; the seal would allow nothing in or out, so communication was out of the window for a couple of days.

A brief glance behind him showed that Fuu was following him, "where are we going?" the greenette asked her friend.

"With a jonin" Naruto answered, "we are under attack, we need orders" he knew because one of the few things his mother had ordered him to do was to read the ninja manual for all ranks, something that was proving to be handy.

A battle was no place to hesitate.

Opening the door to the stands, Naruto was greeted to the images of several jonin, both ally and enemy, jumping around, exchanging taijutsu blows and throuwing kunai, shuriken and senbon around.

His eyes caught sight of the familiar gray hair of Hatake Kakashi and he ran towards him, ducking under attacks and cutting those that he could before they could attack civilians.

He wouldn't be sleeping well for weeks.

Fuu wasn't doing well either, having taken out kunai, she was cutting everyone that tried to touch her, having a few flashes of a past she would prefer stay away.

Eventually they reached the jonin, who was now back to back with Maito Gai, "you two alright?" the silver-haired jonin asked.

"We could be better," Naruto blocked and impaled some random man that jumped him, "what are our orders?"

The jonin considered the question as he threw a shuriken at another ninja, catching him in between the eyes, "find a tracker," the Kakashi finally said, "find the Suna red-head and deal with him, otherwise we'll lose this," Naruto and Fuu locked eyes and nodded, "one more thing, do NOT hesitate to use _them_, this is a war, we need all the strength we can get"

Both teens looked uncomfortable, as all but one of their experiences with the chakra of their tenants; that one time in Taki when they met.

They moved through the arena, leaving through one of the holes that had been made on the wall, and ran towards one of the walls.

'_Hopefully, it's the only war they'll be in_' thought Kushina, saddened that her son would have to kill in such a large scale.

Alas, such was the nature of war.

* * *

***Streets***

A large puff of smoke covered the main plaza of the village, briefly stopping the skirmishes as all the ninja turned to the smoke-cloud, waiting for whatever it was in there to appear.

"Give 'em hell, Gamaken!" a shout came from the smoke, followed shortly by a club that smashed the concrete and killed a few of the Suna and Oto invaders.

"I don't know if I can" a giant red toad, Gamaken, said, "I'm a clumsy toad"

His actions proved otherwise, however, as not once did the toad summon trip on his webbed feet, even if his movements were more complex than any man could do.

Jiraya launched jutsus from his perch on Gamahiro's head, aiming carefully as to not hit his comrades, and looked to the arena, where a large purple block was now visible.

"Kill him sensei," he muttered, "and don't die, we'll need you"

A two-headed snake was heading his way, and he shouted to his friend, "give me oil" the toad spit in the way of the snake and the sage went through hand-seal, "katon: goryuka no jutsu"

The oil caught fire and the dual-headed snake let out a wail as it burned and dispelled.

The civilians better hurry up and evacuate, he already wanted the invasion to end.

* * *

***Kage box***

The four ANBU that had been around the Hokage quickly fell to the kunai that the guards of the Kazekage put on their backs.

Hiruzen ripped his robes off, showing battle armor underneath, and blocked a sword strike from the Kazekage, who, in a puff of smoke, showed himself to be Orochimaru.

"I should have known," Sarutobi muttered, "that the invasion would be your doing, Orochimaru."

The snake sannin chuckled darkly as he pushed against his previous master, "I swore to destroy the village, and today, I fulfill that promise."

A sizzling was heard and Hiruzen wasted no time in flinging himself out the window and into the roof, avoiding the explosion of the overloaded paper-bomb.

Orochimaru appeared a few seconds later, only to have to block several of the tiles of the rood that had been launched as a doton technique from his sensei.

The two traded blows and jutsus, their levels evenly matched even though there was almost a thirty year's difference of age.

The assistants of Orochimaru used that time to put up a barrier that slowly but surely rose from the roof to the sky, covering the area above the Kage box in a purple light and trapping the combatants.

"Summinung: Enma" Hiruzen shouted, slamming his palms on the floor and summoning a monkey with a royal aura to him, "good to see, you my friend," the aged man said.

The monkey looked at Hiruzen, then at Orochimaru and finally to where they were standing, seeing explosions and flashes in the distance, "so you will finally end it" the ape said.

Hiruzen nodded, "indeed, Enma, so please help me."

The monkey nodded and fell into the same stance as his summoner.

Orochimaru cursed, knowing that even if he was in the same step of the power level as his sensei, he could not fight him if he was fighting alongside Enma, a reason his teacher was feared outside his knowledge.

The Hokage and his partner shot towards Orochimaru, attacking in tandem and not allowing the younger ninja any time for counters, wanting to win the battle before Orochimaru could pull out tricks off his ass, something he wasn't sure he could stop.

Hiruzen made the ram seal and inhaled, "katon: Fire dragon bullet," the flame dragon flew towards Orochimaru, and the power alone showed how well had Sarutobi mastered the technique, and it was one of the few potential S-rank techniques of the fire element, both because the power requirement and the control needed to pull it off.

The Snake sannin substituted himself with a mud clone, made hours earlier just for this purpose, which was waiting along with the sacrifices needed for his trump card.

Hiruzen stayed in his battle stance, as did Enma, knowing what to expect from his wayward student; he was waiting for the chance to ambush, that was his style.

Suddenly tiny snakes swamped them, and Enma transformed into his staff form so Hiruzen could send them flying away because of the rotation.

Orochimaru appeared suddenly and grinned, his hands held in a seal, "Summoning: Impure world resurection" three coffins appeared on the roof, marked with the numbers one, two and four.

"You didn't," Hiruzen recognized the jutsu, one his second teacher had forbidden even though the man had created it himself, "you aren't as sick as to have completed that jutsu."

"How good to know that you still underestimate me," Orochimaru chuckled," but yes, I've took my time to complete this masterpiece, I still don't understand why the Nidaime didn't complete it himself"

"Because the living shouldn't mingle with the dead," shouted Hiruzen, enraged, "There is a reason only the Uzumaki dared to do it; and even then only the elders did"

"Ah yes," the snake's eyes narrowed, "a pity they were destroyed before I could finish my research on fuinjutsu."

Hiruzen glared and looked at the third coffin, the one marked four.

A second Sandaime appeared by its side and smashed it with his staff, the one that had been standing in front of Orochimaru disappearing with a puff.

The pale man growled, "you may have stopped one, but all of them," the covers fell off the coffins, showing the, seemingly sleeping, bodies of Senju Hashirama and Tobirama, who then opened their eyes.

"Good to see you brother," Hashirama looked around spotting the coffin behind him, "so this is your creation."

The second glared around, spotting Orochimaru, "it is Hashirama, but we are not here out of good will," the Nidaime's eyes fell on Hiruzen, "good to see you again Saru, I see you did as I told you."

The Sandaime felt his eyes water, "it is good to see you again, Hashirama-sensei, Tobirama-sensei," the man said.

"Hiruzen," Absentmindedly replied the Shodaime, "good to see you became Hokage, but should retire soon, you did outlive my brother and me," even though the tension was high the Shodaime said everything with a light voice.

"I did have a successor, he followed your footsteps shortly after his wife gave birth, I'm afraid," the Hokage said.

"Really, why would that be?" Tobirama asked.

"They Kyuubi escaped from Mito-sama's successor," the current Hokage said, "He used the Uzumaki death seal to seal it in their son."

"Oh, that's bad, what happened to the kid? I suppose he went back to Mito-chan's birth-place" the First said.

"No," the Third answered, "Uzu was destroyed by the northern villages and Kiri, he is a chunnin as of now, the youngest in peace-time."

"How old would he be; fifteen?" asked the Second.

"Twelve"

"ENOUGH" Orochimaru raged, "You two, kill him" he appeared besides the past Hokages and shoved a kunai on their heads.

"Oh my, Sorry Hiruzen-kun" and so the battle of the legends began

* * *

**Okay, I was going to make all the invasion in just one chapter, but then I wouldn't have had the time for my others stories because it would have probably taken me two ot three days, and by the time I started this (normally the first I work on) it was already Monday afternoon.  
**

**Due to a family holyday, we'll be in Chicago for a week, the next update will take more than usual, probably two weeks or more, but since I'll have that time to think out the fights, it'll take only the time to write and not to plan.**

**The next chapter also reveals the Uzumaki summoning contract, so I'll leave you two more weeks to think about what it'll be.**

**Nothing more to say.**

**Ja ne**


	42. Battle of the Village

**Battle for the village**

***Forest***

Naruto, Fuu, Shikamaru and Shino ran on the trees, never stopping for a rest, as even from where they were, they could feel a dark presence, something that both Fuu and Naruto had felt before

"Naruto, there is a problem," Shino broke through the silence, making all of them stop and turn to him, "We are being followed, an enemy squad is behind us."

Naruto cursed, this was not the time; he would need all the chakra he had to stop Gaara without passing out, and all his squad, providing that Shino could safely suck the youki out of Gaara and that Shikamaru could hold him, was useful for the taking-down of the Suna jinchuriki.

"How many?" he asked, he didn't want to use one of his blood-clones, the waking pills took longer than he would have liked.

"Ten, average for a person of the chunin rank" the stoic Aburame answered.

Naruto made to bite his finger, to unseal the first of his five clones, but Shikamaru beat him to the punch, "I can hold them off," the lazy teen said.

"Not without help you aren't" Naruto said.

"There are some of our forces following them" Shino pointed out.

"See," Shikamaru said, "just let me and go on ahead, we don't know if I could restrain Gaara anyway"

Naruto growled, "FINE," he snapped, "but you better not die"

Shikamaru scoffed, "I just have to catch their attention and run" the genius said.

Before anything else could be said, the Nara turned and jumped back, not letting them argue his point, even though he heard Naruto groan in frustration.

"Troublesome, necessary, but troublesome" he jumped in the direction the enemy was.

"DAMIT" Naruto cursed, "He'll need help, hopefully they'll reach him in time"

They moved again, trying to make up for the time they had lost on their targets.

The Nara better not die, even if his number of friends was growing, he still had too few to afford losing one.

* * *

***Village***

Iruka ducked under a sword swipe and impaled the owned through the neck, bringing his total kill count to a dozen and a half.

He wasn't proud of the fact, but he had served under the ANBU for a whole year under a tracking squad, part of the reason he had become such a good sensor, and his had had one of the best track records before he retired and went back to chunin.

The decision was easy to make as he had found his vocation as a teacher.

But really, the only reason he was not a jonin already was because he had no wish for that.

He trained, that was a given, he went on high-level missions during academy breaks, he dated a few girls here and there, and he taught the future generation.

Still, he was getting tired; every kill, every skirmish, every jutsu, they were taking their toll on him, and it did not help that he was growing restless, he knew that something big was happening somewhere.

How it would affect him, only time would tell but for now…

"SQUELCH"

His kunai pierced through a man, killing him in seconds.

Oh, he would get drunk as soon as the war was over.

* * *

***Arena***

Hiruzen was growing weary, every second that passed took a heavy toll on his aged body.

His reserves were near empty, his heart was hours from stopping, his bones were fractured or broken.

His soul was struggling against the Shinagami in an attempt to seal all he could into himself before dying.

Not an easy feat for a man in his seventies.

"Damn you Sensei," Orochimaru growled as he finally sealed away the soul of the Shodaime Hokage.

"I told you Orochimaru…"the old man coughed some blood, "That I would stop your plan"

"Damn you" the snake sennin repeated, "but I still win, Konoha will be destroyed."

A roar and a screech were hear in the distance, and through the millions of branches that were inside the barrier that Orochimaru's subordinates had set up, Hiruzen could distinguish something brown mixed with something gray and many peach-colored spots throughout the rooftops.

"No it won't" the old man whispered, "the will of fire burns too bright to fully stomp out, even if I die, even if the moral will lower, there will be someone who fights back"

Orochimaru roared and impaled the tired man through his chest, but found that the Kusanagi wouldn't budge when he tried to pull it back.

The sannin saw that Enma had grabbed the blade.

"I failed you Orochimaru," the Sandaime continued, "I couldn't stop your descent into darkness and I could not kill you right now, but I will punish you," Hiruzen sluggishly made a long sequence of hand-seals, and all three of the living felt the chill in the air, "your arms will be forever sealed."

An apparition appeared behind Hiruzen; a figure five meters tall, with a white mask with hollow eyes and a sword that looked like a knife in comparison clenched between its teeth.

A dark aura surrounded the figure, and it semmed to grin as it set its black, bottomless eyes on Orochimaru

One of the Shinigami's ghostly hands went trhough Hiruzen and clutched Orochimaru, pulling something out of him.

Then the Death God threw his knife, held it high and brought it down on the ghostly thing that was leaving Orochimaru's body.

That was the last thing Sarutobi Hiruzen ever saw.

He died with a smile on his face.

* * *

***Village***

A roar and a screech were heard all throughout the battlefield, making all the skirmishes stop for the ninja to see what was happening.

Two monsters were fighting on the horizon, and the one that was of no particular species was winning.

Many hoped that it was from the home team.

The shock lasted only a few seconds, and before long the skirmishes restarted, with the only exception being that many giants were now walking the streets and crushing anyone with the Sound or Sand insignia on their bodies.

Evacuation was done, now it was time to regain ground, in the name of Konoha.

The holds were off.

Jutsus flew from the defenders and attackers alike, the giant Akimichis smashed the enemies that stood on their way, the Nara held them down and the Yamanaka melted their mind, the Inuzuka pierced through flesh and bones like they were paper, the Hyuuga stopped hearts without a second thought, the Aburame drained the enemies dry, the Sarutobi burned them to ashes and the ANBU applied their training to cut through the enemy lines with swift efficiency.

The tides had turned.

* * *

***Forest***

Naruto and Fuu left Shino behind as the latter decided to entertain the puppeteer brother of Gaara, using the excuse that he could use the fight to see if he could have won the fight at the finals

It was the first time he had seen Shino act like that, but he would be frustrated if one of his opponents forfeited before the battle even started.

They were forced to stop when the KI hit them at full force, about ten meters from an abomination that was half-man-half-sand, with yellow, blood-lusting eyes and an equally blood-thirsty grin.

This time Naruto did not hesitate to unseal his five blood clones at once, because even with the threat of a Bijuu getting loose, there was strength in numbers, and since the clones had been sleeping ever since he had created them, they were all fully rested, it was only a matter of time before the waking pills took effect.

Fuu and Naruto worked together for the first time in their careers, and for someone with no previous experience working together, as Sasuke really doubted the two had actually ever fought against the same target as a team, the raven-haired teen had to admit that the two made it seem easy.

His own attempt at fighting that monstrosity that answered to Gaara was not so successful, for most of the fight, if you could even call it that, he had been using his considerable speed, which was not much when compared to a jonin's, and neither was his stamina, to dodge the whips and bullets of sand that the boy had used against him.

It didn't help that he only had half a mind on his fight, as the other was too busy fighting against the constant pains on his neck.

For some reason, probably earth manipulation, the monster had trouble getting more sand as the earth beneath them refused to let itself become sand.

How was some foreign girl that wasn't even from a country alingned to earth be able to stop the sand, a sand that had stood up to the hottest of flames he could produce, a sand that had partially stopped on of the few one hit wonders in the world.

Granted, his wasn't quite at the level of his teacher's move, but it still was quite deadly.

And yet, seeing this two people, one of them he was quite sure was nothing but an idiotic orphan, actually managing to hold back Gaara.

It made him scowl with just that.

That kind of power, that kind of skill.

He wanted it.

Naruto sighed in relief when his clones finally joined the battle, as even if he and Fuu were holding on their own with just a bit more difficulty than expected; any kind of reinforcement was good.

The clones were al wielding the Hayabusa no Tsume with the rasenha on them, but the sand was difficult to pass by, the only times he had managed to do so was when Fuu made it back into hard earth and it was easier to break through it.

But Gaara was only getting stronger with each hit on him, by now the only thing he hadn't covered in was his left arm.

They were tired already, running for almost one hour would do that to anyone, so it was only a matter of time before they got caught in Gaara's sand.

The few seconds inside the sphere of sand were horrible, suffocating and claustrophobic were only two ways of many to describe it, and it was only the shouts in his head that made Naruto try something he had never done before.

Summon the boss of the Griffin contract.

The cost for any kind of creature of that contract would leave any non-Uzumaki jonin exhausted to unconsciousness.

But he was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi.

He had Chakra to spare, and a reserve tank.

And so, just as the Ichibi was released, a large creature with and eagle's head and wings and a lion's body appeared and screeched to the heavens.

"**I'M BACK BABY"** the Ichibi shouted.

"**Would you kindly shut up**" the griffin said, "**Now, I do hope that he is the reason you summoned me**"

"Yeah," Naruto said, panting and glancing at the Ichibi, "I did pay attention to the fledglings."

"**Good, because I hate nothing more than uselessness**" the Boss replied, "**Now, let me do the battle and find a way to make me win**"

Rule number one of Talin, the Griffin Boss: always summon it with a purpose, either to seal the contract or for battle, only then.

Rule number two: Always do as he says unless you've beaten him in a fight or earned his respect.

Rule number three: Do not disappoint him.

"_**The boy**_**"** Kurama said, "_**Hit him hard, that should be enough**_"

'_Are you sure?_' Naruto asked, but he was already looking for a way to carry that out.

"_**No, but if Shukaku came out when the boy fell asleep, then waking him up would send him back"**_

'_Okay_'

"_Please be careful sochi_"

'_Don't worry Kaa-chan, I will be_'

Talin flapped his wings and clashed his claws against the Ichibi, moving besides the sand limbs that tried to impale him jumping back every time that sand bullets made to skewer him flew.

Naruto used the many jumps into the air a few minutes into the fight to jump onto Shukaku's back and used the moments of distraction to run as far up as he could before the Bijuu finally realized that he was on.

Not late enough did the whips of sand try to crush him as he rand, but he either dodged or used badly made clones to use as a substitution and continue upwards.

He reached Shukaku's forehead just as Talin ran his claws a few meters down and he was about to hit Gaara when the sand caught him again.

The red-head was pulled away from his target by the sand that had grabbed him.

He had failed.

NO.

Pushing all the chakra he could to his back and using it as propulsion, Naruto head-butted Gaara hard enough to draw blood from both their foreheads.

Not a second latter Shukaku's body fell apart.

* * *

**Not how I planned it, but it had to come out soon.**

**Some things are missing, those are cannon, others I changed a bit to fit better.**

**I finally reveal the contract, had to change the scene a lot to get there.**

**Good news is that from now on it starts diverging more from cannon, just a few more chapters, probably four.**

**I have my school calendar for may, don't expect much updates, I have four weeks straight of exams**

**Ja ne**


	43. Mourning

**Mourning**

***Konoha*Noon*Hokage tower***

"Today we join in celebration of those who fell to clutches of Shinigami during the failed invasión not a day ago.

"Yesterday we all lost friends or family, a result of what is the harsh truth of the world we live in, but their sacrifice was not in vain.

"Amongst all, we celebrate the death of our beloved Sandaime Hokage, the oldest ninja to ever live, reaching the old age of eighty years, something not even his rival Onoki of the Rock can claim.

"He was both feared and respected along the lines as a man of honor and glory, of piece and negotiation, but most of all, of his village and his underling.

"He has been lost to the celestial plane, but as long as his name is still spoken within these walls, his memory will still live, and his spirit will never leave us"

The priest left soon after his words were finished; leaving the villagers gathered to cry along with the sky for a man many considered to be a grandfather outside the family.

They sky was crying, much like the people attending the funeral, but there was something missing.

On two of the spikes of the tower sat one figure each, one a kid and the other an adult, both of them staring blankly at the face of the third Hokage in the monument, both of them feeling the full weight of the death of the old man.

One of them was an adult, a silver-haired man dressed in red and with a thin-lipped stoic face, but he was dropping a tear every now and then, not nearly enough to compare to those below him.

The other was a kid, with hair red as blood, dressed in a dark jacket, with goggles his forehead and a headband on each arm, staring ahead while rivers fell from his eyes, even though his face could betray nothing of his feelings.

Both the figures had been close to the Sandaime Hokage, one of them seeing him like a father and the other like a grand-father, both having spent a lot of time with the man, enough that they could say everything about the fallen man.

Eventually the people left, and the red-headed figure dropped from his place and came close to the altar to the Sandime, leaving only wooden pipe in front of the photograph of the Third, before jumping onto another roof and walking home.

The other just dropped down and sat on the railing of the roof, admiring the village.

* * *

***Uzumaki building***

Naruto sat on the top floor, hugging Megumi and Konohamaru close to him as the three cried their hearts out.

The younger duo had clutched him as hard as they could as soon as he entered the apartment, one looking for comfort and the other to comfort.

The atmosphere of the village had been grim ever since the body of the Sandaime had been discovered on the roof of the stadium, making what would have been a joyous day of celebration because of a victory to a sour loss of the man most people of the country loved.

Naruto himself had taken the news the hardest.

He had been making his way back to the village along with Fuu after knocking some sense into Gaara when he saw that the Hokage monument had been cracked through the face of Sarutobi.

Thinking it to be nothing, he had continued to clutch Fuu, much to the glee of the girl in question, as support as his legs felt numb, as did his head.

By the time they had gotten into the village the invasion force had been driven away, the Suna ninja had surrendered as soon as the sound-speakers around the village announced that the Kazekage had been death and that Orochimaru had impersonated him.

Helping with what little they could, Naruto and Fuu made their way to the refuges, where the civilians had already started to go out.

When they reached the mountain they were tackled by crying Megumi, who had been wondering if she would be seeing Naruto ever again, but Ayame was close behind, explaining what had happened inside the hidden refuges.

Leaving Ayame to find her father on her own after several assurances that she would be alright and that she could defend herself from common people, the three had made their way to their building, Megumi still clinging to Naruto and he in turn clinging to Fuu.

Then they climbed the stairs to meet Jiraya in front of the door, the man had an absent look to him and it took a tap on his shoulder to wake the sennin from his musings.

The man had proceeded to deliver the news of the passing of Hiruzen.

The last time Naruto had cried that hard that he had cursed the heavens had been when he was four.

His knees had lost all force, his shoulders felt like they were lifting a ton, his arms felt like lead and his head spun.

It was only the fact that he was being held that kept him from falling to the floor.

Fuu and Megumi had promised Jiraya to look after him, and so, after a quick bite of ramen he had gone to the couch and stared at the wall for a long while.

That night the three of them had slept on the couch.

Today would probably be a repeat of the day before, but Naruto would make sure they moved to the bedroom as soon as any of them started to feel sleepy.

* * *

***Two days later***

"You three have been called here because before the invasion started I did my job and assessed you to see if you were worthy of the promotion to chunin.

"As there is no Hokage right now, promotions fall to the commanding officer of the rank that wants you to advance.

"After watching you fight and reading through the reports of what you did in the invasion, I decided that all three of you are worthy of being called a chunnin.

"Nara Shikamaru, for your strategizing against Sabaku no Temari and defeating and capturing a squadron of enemy troops for questioning, you are being promoted to chunin.

"Uzumaki Naruto, for your draw against Fuu and the ultimate defeat of the Ichibi no Jinchuriki, Sabaku no Gaara along with the ownership of a summoning contract with the griffins, you are being promoted to chunin.

"Fuu, for your mastery of the earth element, the draw against Uzumaki Naruto and in aiding in the defeat of the Ichibi no Jinchuriki, Sabaku no Gaara, along with knowledge of a hidden brand of jutsu, you are being promoted to chunin.

"Pick your flak jackets on the way out of the building, Nara Shikamaru, I expect to see you aiding in the reconstruction, Uzumaki Naruto, Fuu, I was told by Gama no Jiraya that you are to meet him at the eastern gate by fifteen hundred with enough supplies for a month long mission.

"Dismissed"

The three newly promoted chunnin bowed to their colonel and left the room, picking up the green flak jackets on the way out.

After a few minutes of idle chatter, the three separated and went to complete the orders of their new commanding officer.

* * *

***With Jiraya***

A week, a whole week of a bad thing followed by another; first his informants told him that the Akatsuki was spotted all over the elemental nations.

Then the invasion and the subsequent death of his teacher, a man he considered his father.

Two days ago he had to deal with a funeral and with seeing his godson look broken.

Yesterday he had been forced on one meeting after another, all about him taking over the village, him taking on missions that would probably kill him after a while, him stopping his research on the female onsen.

Really, why the hell did those old coots deny him the research needed for his next book?

But now he was dealing with all those problems in one; by taking his godson and his girlfriend, though the brat denied to see the truth, away from the village for a month he could stop the Akatsuki from getting a proper assessment of both the jinchuriki, making them probably underestimate the teens, and since his mission was searching for Tsunade to take the mantle of Hokage, he would not be tied down to a chair, which meant that he would mean that he would have time for both his network and his research.

Everyone won!

Well, not Tsunade, and most definitely NOT Akatsuki.

But Konoha won, that much was good.

* * *

**WOOOOOOO, I'm back baby, and I bring presents.**

**It has been almost thirteen days since I've posted anything, but I bring you an update for my three mst-liked stories and a new one, a crossover with Naruto and BioShock, be sure to check it out in my profile.**

**To the fans I had on The Hybrids, I am sorry to say that I've deleted it, as inspiration for it never came back ever since my last update nearly a month ago, but I have the documents and when the inspiration comes back I will repost it.**


	44. Journy

**Journy**

***Konoha outskirts*noon***

"Alright you two," Jiraya said to the teens before him, "I called you here because I want your help with the mission the council gave me" they had already set off and the gates could barely be seen over the tree-line, "they rudely called me in the middle of my research just to tell me to search for Tsunade" he scoffed, ignoring the looks of surprise he got, "just the way they told me to do it was and insult, like I haven't been keeping tabs on her locations"

"So we have to find your old teammate?" Naruto asked making the man nod, "then why the heck did you call us for when you already know where she is?" he shouted at the sage, Fuu nodding he agreement, "we could be using this time to help the village!"

Jiraya scowled, "I asked you to go with me because: one, I only know her general location, two, because I need a wingman if the situation arises," he missed Fuu's twitch and Naruto's scowl, "the third reason is more personal really, I need your help if we find her in a casino, I always could do with some money"

"Only your first reason is valid, you old fart" muttered Fuu.

"The second is too, you know" Naruto whispered to her, talking just loud enough so that Jiraya could hear, "I cleaned him up twice during the training month"

Jiraya twitched, "I was drunk both times" he snapped at Naruto.

"I still cleaned you out," Naruto shrugged, making Fuu snicker, "and I was tired"

"So you were tired" Fuu started, "probably nodding off, and you beat an old man, a drunken old man, in a game of luck?" Naruto nodded and Jiraya scowled harder, "I gotta take you to a casino, I can just imagine the kind of money you'll make me"

"Why should YOU keep the money I make?" Naruto whined, "If I win it then I keep it, borrow some if you want, but I keep it"

"I get to keep it because you're likely to spend it all in ramen" Fuu shot back, "I have better money management skills than you do"

"You like ramen just as much as I do," Naruto shot back, butting heads with Fuu, "YOU would spend all MY money on ramen"

The two heard giggling and turned to Jiraya, who was taking notes, "Oh a lover's spat, I can just SEE the things I could start with this"

Fuu looked at Naruto, who nodded and turned at Jiraya.

The two let a powerful punch on top of the man's head, making him drop his notebook in favor of rubbing his head, and Naruto used that moment to send a blade of wind to shred said notebook, leaving a gaping man.

* * *

***Konoha proper*noon***

Hatake Kakashi was a complex man, he knew it, his peers knew it, his team knew it, pretty much everyone ninja knew it or suspected it.

He had been normal once upon a time, back when his father was alive, but then his father committed seppuku and he lost his normality, only to get it partially returned once he met Namikaze Minato, and getting his complexity back when his teammate was killed.

Ever since he had been a mix of the personalities of both his teammate and himself, adding another personality into the mix when his other teammate, Inuzuka Rin, was killed by his own jutsu when she decided to sacrifice herself during a mission to water country.

The carelessness of Uchiha Obito, the caring nature of Inuzuka Rin and the powerful goal oriented mind of Hatake Kakashi all rolled into the latest, making someone that you couldn't help but relate to or hate depending in your status with the man.

It was because of his mix of personalities that he could easily detect any threat that came his way, as even if his sharingan was covered, all the years with it had made him keen with the other eye as well, that was why he brought out the sharingan only when needed.

So when he felt traces of a chakra he had become quite familiar with approaching the same bar he was headed to, he hurried and entered it.

As soon as he did he noticed Kurenai and Azuma, two of his closest colleagues, as the only ones he could truly call a friends were Tenzo, Gai and Aoba, in one of their dates, though they denied that they were dating.

It was known throughout the village that even if he liked to drop in unannounced, he would never intrude in a couple's outing, so when he dropped in their date, though they would deny it was such, Kurenai and Azuma knew that something was wrong.

Kakashi looked around, spotting the source of his nervousness wearing a straw hat and a black cloak with red clouds on it, "Hello you two," he greeted cheerfully, "didn't expect to see you here, but I think I should tell you that I saw a dangerous red cloud this morning, I hope you have your cloak on you"

The other two jonin looked at him with confusion evident in their faces, before Azuma looked around and spotted the same man Kakashi had and showing only the barest hint of understanding, he laughed, "I didn't know you were THAT superstitious Kakashi, but yes, I always keep a cloak handy to deal with the threat of the weather"

Kakashi eye-smiled at him, "well, as long as you have the necessary things to deal with water and heat, then I suppose you can face it together, neh?"

"We're not together" the two other jonin muttered.

Suddenly Kakashi stood up and followed the men that had just left the bar, Azuma following him and Kurenai on his trail.

They stopped near the Uchiha lake and Kakashi stepped forwards, "You have a lot of nerve to show up here Itachi, even with back up, a single flare of your chakra or your pal's, hell even ours will have every jonin and chunin down on you two."

The man only tilted his hat enough to show a dark eye and stress marks running alongside his nose, but otherwise made no attempt to answer Kakashi, "It's been a while, Hatake-sempai"

Kakashi only glared.

* * *

***Jiraya, Fuu and Naruto***

Fire Country was a land of many wonders, both man-made and natural, lije the lush forests and rivers that marked its landscape, the Valley of the End that formed almost a hundred years ago when Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama clashed there, or the Land of Fire's capitol where technology bought from Snow Country was displayed everywhere, or the Fire Temple, where one could cohabit with the monks for the time they wanted to as long as they complied with the rules set by the head monk.

Then there were the settlements that one could find all around the country, centered around rivers, wells, hot springs, natural springs and monuments from the Clan Wars era.

But none of them were the place where the trio found themselves stopping for lunch, no, instead they stopped at one of the many shrines dedicated to the Seven Gods of Luck, more precisely, to the God of Safe Travel.

Naruto flopped down and started to eat as soon as they stopped, totally ignoring the fact that he should have prayed to the god before him.

"Oi brat" Jiraya called, "you do know this is a shrine, right?" he asked, annoyed at the boy's attitude.

"I know, I just don't care about it" the red-head answered, "The only gods I will ever worship will be Inari and Ryujin" he stopped for a few seconds before adding, "and Lady Luck, I think she has a soft spot for me"

"Then at least wait for me to finish praying before being your disrespectful self" Jiraya snapped, _'His childhood must have been awful for him to only worship the gods of mischief and messages, of strength and sea and of luck_.'

The rest of the meal was spent in silence.

* * *

***Konoha hospital*dusk***

Uchiha Sasuke had not always been cold and angry, during his childhood, short as it was, he had been a happy-go-lucky child with his occasional bouts of anger every time he was denied something.

That had changed when Itachi, his older bastard of a brother, had killed every single person of the clan without so much as a tear or a flinch.

He had arrived to his home only to see him taking his sword away from the corpse of their mother.

Then the torture of seeing his clan murdered once and again for more than three days straight finally broke his spirit and turned him into what he was now, an avenger.

He had been eager to test himself against Gaara of the sand a week ago, but he had been soundly defeated every time he tried to get in close, even after he had tapped into the dark chakra that the freak in the Forest of Death had given him, he had been thrown away.

Then the red-head bastard and his green-haired groupie had attacked Gaara, held him off, eventually won the battle and then received a promotion.

He knew that they were stronger than him, which meant that he had to step up his training.

So he had been inquiring about the whereabouts of his sensei, only to hear from someone that he had been hospitalized earlier that day.

So here he was listening in the conversation that three other jonin were having over Kakashi, "do you think he'll recover?" asked a female.

"He's strong, he will eventually get back up" answered a male.

"Why, what happened to Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sasuke

The three jonin looked at him uncomfortably, as if trying to decide if they should tell him what happened to Kakashi.

In the end it was not necessary for them to say, as yet another jonin busted into the room and asked to Kurenai, Azuma and Gai, "Is it true what they're saying? That Uchiha Itachi attacked you four?"

Kurenai and Azuma glared at the jonin, who was just now noticing Sasuke standing there.

It was at that moment that Sasuke decided: he may not be strong enough to beat a monster, but with the power boost from Orochimaru he was strong enough to defeat Itachi.

Azuma failed to grab him just for a second.

By the time they found where he had gone he was already halfway to catching up to Jiraya and his group.

* * *

**There is something I've noticed that I do and that other writers do, and that is that we skip this chapter, the build up of Sasuke showing up at the 'Search for Tsunade,' I had to go back an write it as I noticed that I was missing some more words.**

**Next chapter will come next week, or in two weeks, depending on my teachers.**


	45. Enter, Akatsuki

**Enter, Akatsuki.**

***Otafuku Gai*Hi no Kuni*High noon***

Otafuku Gai, Homely Woman town, a city where brothels were everywhere and nobody had problems with open displays of emotion.

That was the main reason Jiraya had made it his first stop.

There was a second reason, not as important as the first, but also important; he had informants that had sent him a message regarding Tsunade's location and direction, so they would be spending the night there

Naruto was happy as long as Jiraya didn't think of getting him close to a brothel; casinos he had agreement from his mother to enter, as she had admitted to clearing one or two during her time, but brothels were out of the question both because of his own moral lines and because both Fuu and Kushina would give him a beating if he entered.

Kurama would just watch both the women at the brothel and the beatings.

The fox was smart enough to not get caught.

Jiraya was taken away some time after their entrance to the town by a woman that started to flirt with him, leaving the two teens to roam the city for a little while until the room that Jiraya rented for them was ready.

Throughout the self-given tour of the little proper places the town had, Naruto couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched, followed and assessed from afar, the presences at the edge of his passive sensing abilities giving him confirmation to that.

Yet every time he looked at where the person, or persons, watching him were, the only thing he could see was a raven, which only gave him a worse feeling than the last time he looked.

Fuu had said nothing, trusting her friend, soon to be boyfriend hopefully, to tell her whatever was eating at his mind.

By the time their room was ready, nearly at lunchtime, Naruto was a hundred percent sure that there was someone watching them, and he was already planning something to escape their watchers, they just needed to get to their room first.

'_Ok, that sounded sooo wrong_' he thought.

Entering the room and letting Fuu in first, he was a gentleman after all, shortly after closing the door but not before checking the hallway one last time, Naruto locked the door and asked Fuu for help at moving the tables, the only things not nailed to the floor, in front of the door.

"What are you doing" asked Fuu, a little bemused.

"Someone's been following us" Naruto grunted as he pushed the couch, snapping the legs off, "make a shadow clone with the most chakra you can put in one."

The girl did it immediately, the clone looking just as confused as the original.

Naruto created a clone and opened the window of the room, the red-head's clone taking's Fuu's clone hand and dragging her to the bed, sitting on it.

Naruto did the same, only taking Fuu to the window and leaning on it with one foot, ready to jump at a moment's notice.

The two signatures entered the hotel and after a moment or two in the reception's desk climbed up the stairs to the third floor, the same the teens were currently on.

Naruto jumped out the window as soon as they started moving through the floor, dragging a slightly blushing Fuu out the window.

Hey, she was holding hands with the boy she liked, even if they were being followed.

The Naruto clone looked at the Fuu clone, who was also blushing but looking at the Naruto that was holding her hand, "your lady boss has the same problem as my boss right?" the clone smirked as CFuu blushed a bit harder.

CFuu nodded, "it happens when she doesn't give us anything to do" she looked away.

"Well, I'm not as dense as my boss," the clone smirked as she looked at him horrified, "I know your Lady Boss likes my boss" CNaruto shrugged, "I think my Boss likes you too, at least I do"

The clone started leaning close to CFuu, doing as he had seen various couples do, and closed his eyes just as she did.

Their lips met for a single second before the door and everything that blocked it exploded inwards, showing a dark-feeling man and a shark-looking man, the latter looking amused at when they caught the two teens.

"Leader-sama will be interested in this" the dark haired one of the couple of adults said, "For now, you two, come with us"

CNaruto and CFuu glared at the two, both annoyed at the interruption, "Did you have to walk in now?" the male of the clones asked flippantly, "Couldn't you have waited a minute or two? Really dudes, I was kissing her"

Naruto's nose twitched, "smells like sushi, don't really like sushi, I prefer ramen" he unsealed a cup of instant ramen and used a jutsu to pour boiling water on it.

"You sure?" the blue guy muttered, looking at the bundle of bandages on his back, which seemed to twitch in response to the question, "they're fresh though, didn't see them making one", the bundle twitched again, "Out the window, think the real ones wanted their alone time?" he turned his head from the bundle to the other guy, who shook his head.

"No, the Kyuubi knew where we were" the man, who CNaruto now recognized as a Sasuke look-alike walked towards the window and looked around before frowning, "I cannot find him, his presence disappears just outside the window"

The CNaruto raised his ramen cup and chuckled, putting his arm around CFuu, "Well that's boss for you, if many ANBU squads can't find him, then neither can you" the clone nodded at CFuu, who got the message, "See you, fuckers"

The two clones popped, leaving two upset members of the Akatsuki.

"Uchiha Itachi," they heard from the doorway, making them turn towards it, "it is time for you to die"

* * *

***Two hours later*outside the hotel***

Naruto had had to use all his experience in stealth to sneak about with Fuu behind him, but he had managed to get away from the hotel just in time to see Sasuke walk into it, but he had ignored it and looked for Jiraya, finding him five minutes later.

The sage had told the two teens to remain hidden in one of the parks of the town while he went to the hotel to fight with the two that had tried to ambush them there.

Getting bored soon and refusing to even touch the memories of the clone that had popped as they soon proved to be too much for him, he had dragged Fuu, again, to the hotel just in time to see the two guys that had been following them running away from the hotel, leaving behind a hole on the wall, from which one could see the stomach of some kind of animal, where both Sasuke and Jiraya could be seen.

After the man had scolded the teens about disobeying his orders he had taken them out for dinner, disregarding the fact that Sasuke had been knocked out and required to be carried.

Luckily for them, Maito Gai, the Mighty Green Beast, as he introduced himself, Naruto preferred Bushy-brows-sensei, arrived halfway to a family-oriented restaurant, and offered to carry Sasuke back to the village, but not leaving until after giving them a copy of his hideous outfit, which were burnt to ashes almost as soon as he disappeared.

He was a good guy, if you pardon the pun, but too much for most people, one does not simply stand that much eccentricity.

"Right," the three were currently sitting on a bar, somehow being one of the three places in two without prostitutes in it, enjoying the meals that Jiraya promised he would pay, "well, after I got dispelled the genjutsu on the woman and before I came to rescue the Uchiha brat I managed to get the information we needed, so we'll only be spending the night here."

Naruto and Fuu looked up to him, noodles hanging from both their mouths, so he sighed, My informants told me that Tsunade was heading towards Tanzaku Gai, there's a festival in three days, there's a poker tournament and she's most likely going to play in it, so you're going to enter it Naruto"

The boy grinned around the noodles in his mouth and nodded enthusiastically, already thinking of all the things he could do if he cleared everyone out.

His apartment complex could do with an expansion.

A hot tub or an underground pool wouldn't be bad either.

Maybe both.

It all depended on whether or not he won the tournament.

He would have to hire an outside architect for the expansion.

The bastards back home were still bastards, even after the invasion.

Oh, how he hoped his report was given to the public soon.

Oh well, a man could dream.

"Those guys back at the hotel," Fuu asked suddenly, drawing a stare from Jiraya, "do you know who they were?"

The sage sighed, "I do know of them, but only of," he lifted his head, "I know that the organization they belong to is made up by ten S-rank ninja, I don't know their end, but they want the Bijuu"

The teens, as well as Kushina's and Kurama's eyes widened in surprise, "teams of two, only four active hunter teams, one team of spies, of the last one, the leader is unknown to everyone, not even the spies I managed to get only knew of their spymaster."

He looked at them in the eyes, "I took you out of the village to stop them from finding you, and it worked, the only thing they know about you now is that you're with me and that you can use shadow clones, apart from your pennant for stealth, that way they'll probably underestimate you two, think that it's only me and two D-rank teens against two S-rank, it'll make a fight easier, but you'll have to end it fast."

The two teenagers nodded, serious on the outside, even if they were shaken to the core because of the news that Jiraya had delivered.

They would have to train more, a lot more.

* * *

**Tomorrow I start my finals, the bane of all school-aged people.**

**It is a blessing that I only need a quick review first, otherwise I would probably go mad.**

**Oh I dread my future in prepa.**

**The good news are...I only got two weeks of them.**

**Not much for good news, is it?**

**Don't expect updates until the secon week of June, I'll be helping my friends review and searching for all the projects I had to do during the year.**


	46. Festival

**The festival.**

***Tanzaku Gai*Hi no Kuni*Noon***

As it was tradition in Hi no Kuni, one of the countries with the most wildlife of the elemental continent, the winter equinox was celebrated country wide with festival that lasted the day before, during and after the equinox itself.

Jiraya's group was entering the town during the preparations for the festival; people were detting up stands, caravans arrived and settled by the outskirts and performers were setting up their theatres.

Just as he did the last time the three were in a town, Jiraya quickly left the youngsters to themselves, but unlike last time, Naruto and fuu had memories of a kiss, something neither of them knew what to do with.

Naruto just wanted to kill his clone, as the memory had led to a wet dream, something he had been teased mercilessly about, and something that led to his mother doing a small victory dance.

The sooner she had grandchildren, the better.

It would be just three years now, maybe longer.

The memory had also made him hesitant around Fuu, as he feared that his clone had damaged their friendship.

Fuu was also more hesitant around Naruto, but only because she did not know how to proceed on their relationship; did she make a move and invite him to a date? Did she wait for HIM to make a move? Did she simply wait and let everything return to normal?

Of those options only the first one appealed to her.

She would have to make use of the festival that was going to happen, use it as an excuse for her to go on a date with him.

Maybe kiss him again after it was over.

It was really pleasant if the memory of the clone was anything to by.

It was worth a try, "Hey Naruto" the boy looked at her, she felt her cheeks heat up a little, "would you like to keep me company during the festival?"

Naruto looked at her, noticing that her cheeks looked slightly darker than normal, and considered the question; on one hand it could make him awkward towards her, on the other it could solve his questions about her.

"Sure, I'll give you company" he said, flustering slightly at her smile.

'_I wished Iruka was here_'

"_Why, you could ask me for advice"_ Kushina said from inside the seal, pouting a bit.

'_Yes, but you only dated dad,_' Naruto replied, '_Nii-san has had a lot of dates_'

"_**Yeah, the man was always complaining of a crazy girlfriend**_" Kurama said, '_**I don't understand why he tries with civilians**_"

'_He should date Nee-chan'_

Naruto and Fuu separated soon after, Fuu to get ready for the night and Naruto to visit the casino.

He needed money if he was actually spending the night with Fuu, otherwise they would end up broke because of their shared addiction.

Two hours later and Naruto left the casino behind, a satisfied expression on his face and several crying people cursing his very name.

It was good being on Luck's good side.

But Luck was also a cruel mistress, as demonstrated by the fact that not six minutes later he was surrounded by thugs who wanted their money back.

"I won it, you morons" he kicked one of them away as he tried to get close, "if you needed it then you shouldn't have gambled it away."

"You shouldn't have been in the casino, kid," the apparent leader of the thugs said, "You're not older than thirteen"

"I'm a ninja from Konoha," his claws appeared and the thugs backed up a bit, "you can try to force me to give your money back." He punched forward for emphasis.

The thugs ran off, intimidated by the golden weapons, and Naruto was forced to smirk, "Being badass pays off" he said to himself.

He walked off; going to the hotel that Jiraya had told them to meet up at.

* * *

***Hotel room***

"I heard of a kid that was intimidating gamblers across town" Jiraya and Naruto were both in the room, the younger of the two looking in his scrolls for something to wear at the festival, something less oriented for ninja life and more for a night off, "have you heard the rumor?" Jiraya asked, somewhat pointedly.

"I was in the casino today, cleared a few tables" Naruto answered, "some men tried to get their money back, I showed them not to mess with me"

"Why were you even in a casino?"

"I need the money for tonight," Naruto held up a short-sleeved button up shirt of dark red-purple color, "Fuu and I are going to the festival tonight together" he nodded and sealed up every other shirt, but unsealed the pants he owned, looking for one that would match the shirt, "I thought I could use it to sort out my mind"

Jiraya narrowed his eyes at Naruto, then he looked at the door that connected their room with Fuu's and smiled after a few second, "Oh great, my young apprentice is already rooting himself in the ladies' hearts"

In an instant Naruto was on him, his fist buried in Jiraya's gut, "I'm not going to be like you, pervy sage."

Jiraya groaned, ignoring the throbbing on his stomach as he stood up and glared at Naruto, "I'm not a pervert Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you that," the white-haired man struck one of his dramatic poses, "I'M A SUPER PERVERT!"

This time it was a foot that was buried on Jiraya's gut, sending him through the window with a crash that was probably heard on the lobby.

"Is everything alright there Reddie?" he heard Fuu's voice from the door that separated their rooms, "I heard a crash, did you kill ero-baka?"

"Nah, just threw him out the window!" he shouted back, sitting on the bed and turning on the TV. After all, he would probably be waiting until seven before washing himself and dressing up.

Women were troublesome like that, taking hours to dress up.

Five minutes later he heard shouts from the window, and when he looked out of it he saw Jiraya being beaten by a woman he had apparently groped.

That man was uncorrectable.

* * *

***Dusk***

By the time that Fuu decided to tell Naruto to wait outside her door, it was already starting to get dark outside, and the sounds of celebration could already be heard from the halls of the hotel they were staying at, proof that people were already starting to get into the into the festival.

Leaning into the wall, Naruto couldn't help but wonder on what would happen during the night, hopefully it would go well, even better if it went wonderfully and he sorted out and stop the doubts he was having around Fuu.

The girl was probably the one he was closest to in his age group; Haku and Hagane were older than him by three years, as was Ayame and Megumi was three years younger and his sister in all but blood.

It was because of his musings that he did not notice when the door next to him opened, but he did notice when a hand tapped his shoulder, making him looked at the new, all dressed up Fuu.

His breath caught in his throat at the sight that was her.

Her short hair was not held from her like it normally was, letting her fringe cover the upper part of her eyes, then he noticed that her hair seemd longer on her nape, covering it up to her shoulders.

She was wearing a dark green dress that came down to her lower thigh, a pair of black legging covering the rest of her legs and a pair of black boots on her feet.

It also helped that her dress was a bit tight on her, letting him see her developing figure.

"You look..." it took him a moment to reset his brain, eventually managing it, "great, green suits you" he finished.

Fuu smiled at him, a week, barely noticable blush on her face, "thanks," she said, "you look great too, the shirt matches you hair."

Naruto held out his arm, Fuu taking it after a few second, "let's go," they both said at the same time.

They left the hotel and headed towards the street, where they were welcomed by the sight of happy people, couples enjoying each other's company, children running around with masks on their faces, vendors shouting their sales, game booths with prices on displays.

There was also the smell; food of many different kinds, from the five continents, from beyond the end of the sea.

And the most noticable of all was the sound of music and happiness.

They walked around, watched plays, played luck, skill and timing games, ate what they could and had a good time, ignorant that a figure was watching them with a smile on his face.

'_It's good that you found a good girl for you, my godson_' thought Jiraya as he watched the couple of teenagers, _'you Namikaze pick your wives early on, Minato was __ten when he rescued Kushina_' his little happy smile turned into a perverted grin, _'Oh I can't wait until they turn eighteen_, _the material I can get from them when they reach adulthood is almost too good_'

Oh well, Jiraya could wait for five more years until both Naruto and his girl were of age, until then he could get many other sources of research.

* * *

***Nightime*hotel***

When the two teenagers came back to their rooms it was already past midnight and both teens were already tired from the walking and playing they had done, so both were wearing tired, happy smiles on their faces.

Fuu opened the door to her room and the next few seconds would evade Naruto's memory until days later; one moment he was opening the door to his room and the other he was pressing lips with Fuu, who was clutching his shirt.

His mind trying to reboot, the red-head followed instincts and circled his arms around Fuu's waist, her own hands letting go of his shirt and finding their way around his neck, further deepening the kiss.

After what seemed like hours to both, they leaned away from each other, just enough to see each other in the eye, their foreheads touching, "what does this make us?" he asked her between pants.

"What do you want us to be?" she asked back, also panting.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend?"

She nodded and smiled so brightly that it lit the whole hallway.

* * *

**As I've estated in my profile, the beta one, I hate writting romance, I just suck at it, so don't expect any more mushy stuff other than ocassional kisses and mature references in shippuden.  
**

**I've finished with finals, almost anyway, so updates will once again be weekly, but since it is summer then maybe faster, depending on how my birthday goes.**

**Vidiogames, I'm sure most of you understand.**

**With all said and done, I bid thee farewell.**


	47. Oh boy

**Well, damn**

***Tanzaku Gai*Hi no Kuni***

The days passed slowly to the new couple, as both wanted to explore their relationship: what was well, what was not doable, what was pleasurable, what was not. They decided to keep their hands above the waist, unless they wanted to get awkward.

Naruto especially did not want anything to give to his tenants, who would no doubt make everything even worse.

His mother was a master at teasing, even better than Ayame was.

Between the two of them they had made puberty almost unbearable.

It was worse when Fuu arrived, as the two had met at the ramen stand almost every other day.

"Okay you two, you'll have to leave your mushiness aside for a moment" Jiraya told the two teens, who had been cuddling in the couch, "we'll be leaving tomorrow to head towards Gambler's town, the home of the biggest casino in the country"

Naruto grinned and started pulling out his still giant wallet, which was bulging despite the storage seals in place.

"No, Naruto, if she sees you then our target is going to flee" the perverted sage said, Naruto made to speak, "and no, she has perfect chakra control, she would sense you even with your henge in place"

"What if I dress differently and make a seal to change my voice so I appear to be a midget?" Naruto asked, already thinking of a formula that could work for that.

"That could work, but we don't know how long she will be there, if she is there at all" Jiraya replied, though it was a bit pained, he thought it had been a good idea, "but if you can make shadow clones with the chakra levels of a civilian, then our search will be faster"

"I can do that" both teens said, it would be difficult, but it could be done.

"Good, then I'll leave you to pack up" Jiraya left through the window, intent on doing more research.

Pervert.

* * *

***The next day*Roads***

"So, anything we should know, other than the fact that she's a hag?" Naruto was walking with his hands behind his head, Fuu in front of him and Jiraya to his right.

"_You should never call a woman that, Naruto__"_ Kushina scolded from inside the seal.

'_But she's ero-sennin's age, that's ancient_' Naruto whined.

"_No, Mito-baa-sama was ancient, Kurama is ancient, fifty is just old_" Kushina lectured her son.

'_For a ninja forty is already ancient,_' Naruto said, _'I can only imagine how that old man with the rice fryer on his back feels_'

"_Well, I think he is thirty years younger than Mito-baa-sama was when she died_"

'Which is ancient'

"She is blond, with the nicest, biggest rack you'll ever see, and an ass that is just" the perverted man started to drool and grin, making creepy gestures with his hands.

Both teens took a step away from him.

Okay, they left him fifty paces behind, but that's beside the point.

"So she doesn't look like a hag" Fuu said, "Wonder how she does it if she's supposed to be the perv's age?" she asked herself.

"Probably some kind of henge, most likely seal-based" Naruto answered her, making her turn to him, "seal transformations last longer, could last as long as my true transformation, and with the proper formula, the strain on chakra reserves could be almost null"

"Still, what the pervert said only gives us a basic information, we don't know what she usually wears, if she had glasses, nothing other than she's his wet dream" Fuu scowled, "he should be better at this.

"The guy probably had a crush on her when they were younger," Naruto said, "I bet the guy still has feelings for her."

"How much you bet that he's going to get beat up by her in minutes?" Fuu grinned at him.

"A dinner wherever says that it takes two hours for him to get beaten" Naruto replied, holding out one of his hands.

"Deal" Fuu shook his hand, changing it so they could walk comfortably side-by-side.

* * *

***Gambler's town*Dusk***

By the time they arrived in town it was already starting to get dark, so Jiraya decided that the group should stop at a restaurant/bar to grab something to eat before retiring to the hotel for the night, but to his surprise, it took only to enter the restaurant they had decided on to find their target.

Senju Tsunade was not having a good day; first she had won nearly a thousand ryo at the casino, something that usually meant that she would be met with some kind of life-changing turn of events that left her either even deeper into depression or even deeper into debt.

The same evening she had been touring the town at the insistence of her apprentice, who wanted to see the castle in town, one of the national land-marks that made the city important enough to legalize large-scale gambling and betting rings, something that was mostly forbidden in Hi no Kuni.

During the tour of the castle's maze of walls and gardens, she had been confronted by one of her past teammates, the one that had deflected the village first, the one that had been _there_ and done nothing to help.

The Snake then had the gall to ask for her help, when the bastard had done nothing to get within her good books, telling her to heal his arms from the damage that he sensei had caused, explaining that he had been damaged when fighting and eventually killing Sarutobi in a fight.

But she had proven that even if her muscles were not as strong as they had been, and even if she had been lax in keeping her abilities in fighting against trained ninja she was still capable of bringing down buildings with nothing for a punch, using one of her creations in the field of chakra control to make an example of one of the walls that had been keeping them in the same corridor.

"I see you are still as strong as ever, Tsunade" the snake had said, shortly after offering to use the jutsu that her uncle had created to bring back both her death lover and death brother.

Which brought her to her current situation: drinking the night away with her apprentice watching over her so they would not use her.

But her day had to become twice as bad.

"Tsunade!" came the boisterous shout of Jiraya, not two seconds after he entered the restaurant.

"That's our quarry?" Naruto asked as he saw the target of the mission, who, just as Jiraya said, was probably the person with the fullest figure he had ever seen, "Are you sure we had to find her and it wasn't just for your fantasies?"

Tsunade groaned as she saw the toad sage when she looked at the entrance of the restaurant.

The man and his followers, as Tsunade decided to call them, ignored her groan and made to sit in the same table, the sage's eyes immediately falling in her breasts, "So good to see you again, Tsunade, and I see that you've grown into a beautiful woman, Shizune"

Besides Tsunade was Shizune, her apprentice and the only link she still had to her deceased lover; Shizune was a woman with short, black hair, a somewhat round face, compared to Tsunade who had a very angular one, and was wearing a black kimono with white trims.

"Cut the crap Jiraya, what do you want?"

Naruto frowned, but only Shizune noticed.

Jiraya turned serious, "The council has given an order Tsunade," the white-haired man said, "You either come with us or you become a missing nin"

Tsunade slammed he hand down on the table, breaking it with pure brute force, "You can't do that! I'm the last Senju, you can't make me a missing nin!" shouted at Jiraya

"You are being recalled because sensei wanted you to be Hokage after he died" Jiraya said calmly.

"So it's true then" she muttered.

"What's true?" Jiraya asked.

"Orochimaru dropped by, said he killed sensei" she explained but then shook her head, "forget it, I'm not becoming Hokage, not after everything the village has done to me."

"That was nearly thirty years ago" Jiraya said, his voice starting to take a growling tone.

"The dream for that wretched position killed Dan and Nawaki," Tsunade did growl, "And if that not enough, everyone with the tittle has been an idealistic fool that died for nothing."

A flash caught everyone's attention, making them turn to Naruto, who had his claws out and was, apparently, having a struggle with himself to remain sited, or at least with not stabbing Tsunade, something he knew he would regret unless she decided to disregard orders.

"Please take that back" he muttered angrily, none of the grown women recognizing the dangerous undertone in his voice, "If you know what's good for you then take that back"

"Naruto, please don't make threats like that" Jiraya said.

"Oh, so you picked another one, and this one looks like the Tomato of you last one" Tsunade said amusedly.

A blink later she found herself with blades pressed to her throat and a teen with the angriest expression she had seen in a while on her face, "I can take an insult towards Jiji, he died a week ago, so you may not have heard, but if you insult my mother outside of battle," Naruto pulled his lips back, showing pointy canines, "I'll make sure you'll regret it"

Tsunade raised her hands, making it appear as if she was giving up, "so tomboy had a baby with girly-boy, I bet you're as much a bitch as she was"

Naruto's scowl deepened and his claws started to shine blue, signaling that he had started to use the rasenha, and Tsunade felt pressure on her throat, but she remained impassive, "care to repeat that, a single twitch, mine or yours and your throat is shredded," her eyes flickered downwards, "apologize for what you said about the Hokages and my mother and I'll lean back"

"NARUTO, STAND DOWN" Jiraya shouted

"Not until she apologizes" Naruto growled.

The next few seconds were only understood by Jiraya and Tsunade; one second Naruto was on her and the next he was flying through the wall of the restaurant, a big red imprint on his forehead.

There was silence in the restaurant; all eyes were either on the table or on the hole in the wall.

Then the shouting started and Naruto threw himself at Tsunade.


	48. Naruto vs Tsunade

**Uzumaki vs. Senju**

The first two punches caught Tsunade by surprise, Naruto managing to hit her in the face and on the shoulder.

The third also managed to hit her, but as she already had her guard up, Tsunade managed to move the fist so it hit her on the shoulder rather than the neck as Naruto had intended.

Pushing Naruto off of her, throwing him two tables away, Tsunade stood up and glared at him, but it was not the scariest glare he had been subjected to, so it wasn't as effective as it should have been, which added to the fact that Tsunade was not projecting KI.

Jumping to his feet, ignoring the shouts of the owner, who Jiraya was trying to calm down, Naruto once again ran towards Tsunade.

The woman slapped him out of the air with a backhanded strike, but Naruto proved to be heavier than she expected so when he grabbed onto her arm as she hit him she was brought down with him.

Proving that her strength should be more than just a small factor in a fight without her reinforcements, Tsunade managed to correct her footing and using her arm to smash Naruto on the floor and throwing him through the wall, again, but this time following him and smashing one of her fists, this time laden with chakra, on the ground as she landed, cracking the street outside the restaurant and succeeding in stopping Naruto from raising.

Naruto created a shadow clone and it grabbed his legs from the crack they were in, and spinning as fast as it could, threw the real Naruto towards Tsunade, who had expected the clone to attack her, and not to throw the brat that had insulted her.

But once again she proved her worth as an S-class ninja, jumped over Naruto and kicked him just as he was passing under her, making him crash into the ground.

Adding to the injury, Tsunade proceeded to bury her feet into Naruto's back, cracking some of his ribs and driving the air out of his lungs.

But the clone proved to be smart at not dispelling once it threw Naruto, and Tsunade was surprised when a head-butt to the head sent her tumbling to the ground, allowing Naruto to shakily stand up.

The two ninja glared at each other, both preparing their personal favorite jutsu.

Tsunade's hand glowed a dark green while a bright, blue swirling ball formed above Naruto's hand.

With a cry on both sided they rand towards each other, both of the hands with the finishers drawn and ready to smash into each other.

Then the two found themselves in the ground with Jiraya glaring down at them like a father would to a petulant child.

Naruto looked away, not standing the look, and stood up, not looking up from his shoes.

Tsunade had no such reservations, and glared at Jiraya with everything he had, "Why did you interrupt you pervert?" she barked at the Toad Sage.

"Because I don't want my apprentice death when he's thirteen, for one, because you two were causing a scene, for two, and because I don't plan on paying for your disasters, Tsunade" Jiraya answered, nodding towards the restaurant, where a lot of people were looking out of the holes on the wall and out of the windows.

"It's your brat's fault, if he had taken the insult with grace we wouldn't be like this" Tsunade snapped at Jiraya.

Naruto growled and glared again that the woman, "If you hadn't insulted the death and my mom then I wouldn't have attacked you, you frigging old hag!" Naruto stormed off, but not before flipping Tsunade off from over his shoulder.

Fuu looked at Jiraya, who was her commanding officer, silently asking to go after him, something she would do anyway, but she preferred not risking insubordination charges.

The man only glanced at her and nodded, still looking down at Tsunade, who looked as if she wanted nothing more than to smash Naruto's face into the ground, but Jiraya's glare stopped her.

She was under no illusions that if Jiraya was serious against her she could win, she KNEW that Jiraya would win, cope a feel of her brests, and walk away without so much as two black eyes and some broken bones, yet still able to move.

On the other hand she would end up with a rasengan to the stomach, broken arms, busted face, cracked ribs and probably a broken leg-bone.

Thirty years ago that would not be the case: Jiraya, while crafty, had preferred close combat with the occasional supporting jutsu, that was it, while Tsunade could use her medical knowledge, super strength and looks against who she came across, literally pounding them to death, and Orochimaru could come up with strategies that would use the less possible amount of chakra, cause the most damage while receiving little in return, making him a hard man to hit.

But after the Second Ninja War Tsunade had started to train less, after her brother died, and then her lover, a man she had found a year after the death of her little brother, had died on an A-rank and she had stopped training altogether, eventually leaving the village with Shizune in tow.

But Jiraya and Orochimaru had continued growing, the former learning seals, finding them applications everywhere and becoming the first Sage, honest sage, not those wandering vagabonds that claimed to have reached enlightening, since her grandfather; and the later became one of the most known scientists and jutsu creator of the current time, while she just drank and gambled her life away.

When new reached her that Orochimaru had deflected the village some ten years ago, she had been surprised to know that the rumors also said that a man with pain in his face had been the one that forced him to flee the battlefield instead of the snake just leaving corpses behind.

She was no fool; Tsunade knew she was outclassed, even if she could draw out a battle.

"Now, please tell me why did you decide to insult the wife of the man that I thought my son?" Jiraya asked, pausing long enough for Tsunade to open her mouth before continuing, "And why, if you knew he was their son, did you insult Kushina?" once again he waited for her to open her mouth and cut in, "I suppose it was because Kushina HAD to spent time with Mito to keep the Uzumaki Fuinjutsu alive" he kept his eyes on her, ready for if she snapped.

"SHE STOLE MY GRANDMOTHER FROM ME" Tsunade shouted, a tear falling from her eye.

"She did what she was ordered to when she left Uzu" Jiraya said, his voice calm, "After she married Minato, the night she discovered she was pregnant, she told me that her father told her to tell Mito that she was to teach Kushina, would you disregard an order if it came from you grandfather, how about from your grand-uncle?" the sage sighed, "Tsunade, the only thing the kid has, the only thing he can always take for granted, is that he is the heir of the Uzumaki, even if they are not a clan anymore, he has clan honor, something you seem to lack"

His piece said, Jiraya walked back into the restaurant and talked to the manager, eventually coming to the deal that he, Jiraya, would pay with a signed, first edition of his newest Icha Icha, leaving Tsunade to pay only half of what it would cost to repair the wall of the restaurant.

Then he took out a small, green book and walked the same road his two quarries had taken.

Tsunade stayed there, looking at where her teammate had been not ten minutes ago with a vacant expression, his last words replaying on her mind, once, and again, and again, until Shizune finally came and took her to the hotel they had booked for the week.

That night Tsunade could not sleep, for her mind could not stop questioning itself, asking '_would I spend time with someone else's family if I was ordered by my father? If it was the only way to keep my name alive?_'

She could not answer.

Three days later, days that she used to drown herself in sake while Shizune visited Jiraya and his brats, she was joined by said pervert in the bar, but after three plates spent in silence, she could not stand it anymore, "What do you want?" she muttered as she was served again.

"I never got to hear your answer, will you return to Konoha or will you live as a missing nin?" Jiraya looked at her curiously, his saucer already empty.

"I don't know" the woman answered, "After what you told me, I just don't know what to do"

Jiraya slammed his saucer down, "Let's not talk about that, let's act our age and talk about the good old day, how about that?" he smiled at Tsunade.

Tsunade snorted, "Knowing you, you'll talk about some woman you saw in your travels"

"No," Jiraya paused, "Well, eventually, but first I was going to ask if you remember our mission to Swamp"

Tsunade snorted again, harder this time, "which one, the one where they sacked you from the castle for groping the Daimyo's daughter or the time they sacked you from a fort because you groped an officer"

"Okay, so maybe not Swamp, how about Sea Shell?"

"You were thrown overboard for groping the captain's daughter"

"Fine, then…"

They spent the afternoon chatting, and by the end of the night she had decided on what to do.

* * *

***With Naruto, Fuu and Shizune***

"So her luck is the complete opposite of mine?" Naruto asked a bit incredulously.

Yes, he was the embodiment of good luck, but for someone to lose more than ten thousand Ryo a day?

That was bad luck.

"Well, not everyone can have your luck" Fuu muttered, "One day we're coming back and we're staying for a week"

Shizune looked at them curiously, so Naruto explained, "I cleared four tables in one hour in Tanzaku, I could probably bankrupt this town in a week," The red-head smiled, but then he cried, "but the luck is only in gambling"

"How is that?" Shizune asked.

"Well, I was orphaned at birth, my second mission, real one, not chores, turned into an A-rank, so did my mission to Taki, and the finals of the chunnin exams, and two weeks ago we had to run away from two s-ranks"

"But it balances out," Fuu said, "I mean, he met Haku and Hagane in Wave, his little sister in a clearing job, me in his mission to Taki."

"And you got promoted" Shizune interrupted Fuu, but the girl nodded, "you do have great luck, Naruto, I only wish Tsunade-sama could have it too"

"Can you tell us stories about her?" Fuu asked, "She is Tsunade, even if she is a grumpy old hag"

Naruto smirked and hugged Fuu with one arm, nodding towards Shizune to say that he wanted to hear too.

"Ah, well, she doesn't talk much of her past, but I do know enough," The woman put on a thoughtful expression, "well, there was this one time…"

The three of them spent the day trading stories.

* * *

**Some of you will bitch about how the fight went, but I did it so for a reason.**

**Tsunade is a S-rank, easily after Shippuden started, but she let herself go after she left the village, only keeping track of what she ate and keeping herself from muscle atrophy and gathgering fat, but she did not train so her skills and streng could have dimmed.**

**Naruto, how I've made him out to be, is chunnin in skill(control, temper and smarts) and power (capacity, stamina and strenght), but if you look properly, he only good three good hits and a half-scored one, the two at the beggening, the head-butt and the parried punch to the shoulder, while Tsunade threw him through the wall twice, bashed his body against the floor, punched him really hard mid-air, landed on him.**

**You read it.**

**So don't flame, I knew what I was doing.**


	49. Sannin fight

**Battle of the sannin.**

***Gambler's town*Hi no Kuni*Friday***

Friday arrived as brightly as the rest of the week had, but unlike the rest of the week, it had been too late by the time Fuu and Naruto stopped their exchange and training with Shizune, so the older woman had invited them to her room at the hotel she and Tsunade had been staying at.

Since neither wanted to stand Jiraya's antics that late, the two had agreed and Fuu slept in the second bed while Naruto took the uncomfortable couch, but he had had worse, so he could stand it.

It was a groggy Naruto that sat up from the couch the morning of the day they were supposed to make their way back to Konoha, so without really noticing any of his surrounding he went to the kitchenette the hotel had provided, opened a cupboard and reached in to grab a cup of instant ramen, a testament to how good it was that they had taken the bother of providing it to the room, and a kettle to boil the water to put in it.

Ten minutes later, enough for him to take a proper but quick shower, he moved back to the kitchenette, only to find the kettle half as full and his ramen cup gone.

Someone had stolen his ramen, and since Shizune was still asleep, judging by the bump at her bed, so that left only a suspect.

A loud slurp followed by a satisfied burp was all the proof he needed, "you ate my ramen!" he shouted at Fuu, who smirked at him, showing him the empty cup.

Fuu shrugged, "you left it there, and since the kettle woke me up, I took my breakfast" she said.

"It was mine," Naruto grumbled, but moved to grab another cup and filling it up with the still hot water in the kettle.

"Aw, don't be a cry baby," Fuu moved to hug him from over his shoulders, but he did not respond to her, "come on, give me a kiss Reddie," she closed her eyes and moved her head a bit.

"Not until you apologize, Greenie" he grumbled, picking up the cup and the chopsticks, but otherwise not moving his head.

With his arms restricted at the shoulders, however, he did not have all the movement he wished he could have, as it was somewhat uncomfortable not only eating while standing, but also without the cup moving more than half an arm's length.

"Kiss me and I'll let you go," Fuu said.

"Apologize and I'll kiss you" Naruto answered.

Naruto could have easily made a clone, switch with it and eat the ramen in peace at the couch, but he did enjoy having Fuu pressing against his back, even if it did restrict his movements.

That was part of the fun of having a girlfriend, enjoying each other's bodies, thought the two were only thirteen, almost fourteen in Fuu's case, so their physical contact under the clothes was not much.

The having things in common was also important, Naruto would say that knowing each other was the most important thing if he was to start a friendship with anyone, but he was going through puberty, at an accelerated rate because of Kurama's body accelerating his metabolism, but still a pubescent .

His hormones were high as fuck.

Having to drag Fuu around when he finished his cup of ramen was indeed a bit of an annoyance, but he was rested, so it was not much of one.

It did, however, make his balance uneven, so it was not really a surprise that he smashed against the floor when he stepped a bit on the side of his foot.

Fuu landed over him, and he was squished under her weight, sixty kilograms of muscle in a rather small frame, smaller than Naruto's, but he was already an inch over the average Konoha male at his age, so that wasn't saying much.

It was however, the moment when Shizune woke up, and also the moment when a stumbling Jiraya went through the doorway.

Shizune did not do much other than yawning and giggling at them, normal giggles, while Jiraya, who obviously had something important to say yet preferred to do the normal thing for him, only said, "I'll have to add that soon," creepily before turning serious, "Shizune, get dressed, you two, stand up, Tsunade is going to fight Orochimaru alone and she will need back up." Jiraya collapsed to the ground, clutching his sides.

"Jiraya-sama," Shizune was by his side fast, asking him what was wrong.

"Tsunade drugged me, said she didn't want me interfering in her fight" he shakily stood up.

Shizune made some hand-seals and pressed her now green hands to the skin above his liver, "I don't know what it had, but that is the best I can do" she looked at her pet pig, "Tonton, can you get us to Lady Tsunade?" the pig snorted then gave a positive squeal, running out the door.

***With Tsunade***

"So, have you decided, Tsunade?" the snake summoner asked the woman.

"Yeah, I've made my decision," she started to lift her hand up, but when Orochimaru lifted his to grasp it she let out a punch that Orochimaru barely dodged, so it destroyed the wall behind where he had been.

"So you decided to betray me?" the traitor himself asked the woman, who cracked her knuckles and glared at him, "What about Dan, about Nawaki?"

"They're dead, and it's not like you didn't plan on slaving them" Tsunade jumped and punched the ground where Orochimaru had been standing, but the Konoha traitor dodged before she landed, resulting in a crater, "Stay still, would you?" Tsunade growled, jumping with her fist cocked again.

So started a game of cat and mouse, with Tsunade blasting the ground and Orochimaru dodging the crater-creating punches, until eventually they reached the forest near the town.

It was then that Orochimaru's follower, a bespectacled teen with gray hair and dark purple clothes, Kabuto, who had been a spy that had been forced to leave the village he was posted at, Konoha, when Hatake Kakashi caught on to his ruse.

Orochimaru fell back and let Kabuto fight Tsunade, but the teen, a jonin in skill, was not much of a fight for an S-rank kunoichi like Tsunade, even if she had left herself go, so he was dodgind and rarely getting a good opening to hit Tsunade.

But Kabuto had good Intel in Tsunade, so he knew exactly what to do if the fight started to get out of hand, and fifteen minutes into it, that started to happen.

So Kabuto took out one of his kunai and stabbed himself in the palm, sending Tsunade into shock, leaving her staring at nothing and shaking.

"Kabuto, finish it," Orochimaru ordred.

The teen nodded and angled himself to stab Tsunade in the chest, but before he could a blue and red streak that pushed the kunai away and then hit him in the stomach, succeeding in defending Tsunade from a sure death.

Behind Naruto was Shizune, who was now fusing over Tsunade, who showed no signs of answering to her apprentice.

Fuu was helping a limping Jiraya, who felt only somewhat better than he had in the morning, good enough to fight, but if Orochimaru somehow managed to summon a snake, then he would have to resort to Naruto to summon something.

Maybe he would give Fuu the summoning contract.

He wasn't able to give to Naruto, but if he was to give it to Fuu, then it would technically stay in the 'family,' if what he thought would happen to their relationship was true, and if they managed to beat Akatsuki before they got married.

Naruto and Shizune were in a fast battle with Kabuto, with the older boy staying ahead of them by a tight margin and managing to get in a good couple of hits on both of them, but Naruto shrugged them off, relying in his healing factor, while Shizune stopped every once in a while to heal herself from the damage Kabuto inflicted on her.

That was until Kabuto severed her tendons and sent her to the ground.

Naruto docked under a green hand and made a fast rasengan in his right hand, thrusting it in Kabuto's abdomen, sending him spiraling into a rock some meters away.

To his amazement, the older teen managed to somehow heal himself as fast as Kurama's youki healed him, his red skin turning pink.

"Hehe, seems I underestimated you, Naruto-kun, I'll have to get serious then" the teen said, his hands taking a darker shade of green.

Naruto got himself into a stance and called his claws out, covering them in a rasenha, waiting for Kabuto to attack him.

The older teen did not disappoint, coming at Naruto with a flurry barrage of punches and kick that would have left the red-head a twitching mess if the connected, but his claws provided an efficient defense from the chakra scalpel.

Jiraya meanwhile was engaging Orochimaru in a taijutsu battle, with the occasional jutsu coming from Fuu to help Jiraya, who still did not have his chakra under full control, but the jutsus she launched had to be very carefully aimed and meditated for minutes before they were thrown, for she could barely see what was happening, that fast were the two fifty-year-olds, fast enough that to her eyes, better than the average because of her tenant and even better because of her training, had trouble following the pace of the battle.

The jutsu she used the most was her specialty, the hidden bright dust, used whenever the two men stopped their blows for breath, to give Jiraya more time to strike against Orochimaru, but she had used a jutsu she did not have much experience too, the underworld swamp, but while Jiraya had managed to take some advantage from it, since it was one of his favorite jutsu, next to the summoning, Orochimaru had jumped away from it before she could get him in it.

Ten minutes in Orochimaru decided that he would try to kill Tsunade and extended his neck while a snake with a blade in its mouth came out from his mouth and tried to impale the woman.

Naruto had seen this and jumped away from Kabuto in order to try to block the blade with his claws, having to dig his talons on the ground to get better purchase once the Kusanagi hit his hard bock, but he was still being pushed back, "GET OUT OF HERE" he shouted to Tsunade, but the woman did not react.

Shizune was still in the ground, trying to heal her torn tendons, something that was taking her longer than her pick-up teammate would have liked, so she would be of no help, the only thing she could do was send poisons, but that was still away while she tried to heal herself.

Orochimaru, seeing that he would not get the satisfaction of Killing Tsunade yet, retracted his neck back into his shoulders and called Kabuto to him, the teen serving as a summoner with the tattoo Orochimaru had on his arm.

Manda appeared in a puff of smoke, arguing with a nonchalant Orochimaru once it did.

Naruto shouted at Tsunade to get her head back in the fight, looking at Fuu and Jiraya both of whom looked nervously at the giant snake before them.

He slapped the woman in a last resort attempt at waking her from her shock, succeeding only after he turned away and started doing the signs for the summoning jutsu, thinking 'warrior' as he slapped his hand to the ground, calling one of the many warriors of the griffin contract to the battle.

The griffin, dressed in a leather armor with claws that looked longer than the ones he had seen in the feet of Talin and a beak a dark red in color, shook itself when it appeared, almost throwing Naruto off, "I need your help to fight that snake, please"

The griffin cocked its head and screeched, but otherwise did not respond, and took a running start towards Manda, who coiled and attacked back.

Yet another puff of smoke appeared in the battlefield, but this time it brought a giant slug with it, the summoning of Tsunade, who was now standing atop the slug with a glare aimed at Orochimaru.

Jiraya carefully did his hand-seals, molding the chakra he would need with the utmost concentration, to summon one of the higher toads of the clan, if not Gamabunta, then at least Gamahiro or Gamaken, the second and third best warriors.

He did not summon the toad chief, but he did manage to summon Gamaken, which was good enough to fight Manda with the help of Katsuyu and whatever the name of Narut's griffin was.

Orochimaru made contact with Kabuto, who nodded and jumped off of Manda, taking off running towards the North West

The snake of the sannin molded chakra for one of the few jutsus he had mastered to the extreme, the substitution and the mud clone, and walked away once his mud clone was the one above Manda, his direction the same Kabuto had taken.

It took the Konoha ninja a long while to dispel Manda and the Orochimaru clone, and by the end of the battle the griffin was missing quite a few feathers and Gamaken had more than one bruise already in the making, while Katsuyu looked not a little bit worse from what she had at the beginning of the fight.

Being a slug had its benefits, some good enough to compensate for the weakness to common salt.

The next day Tsunade and Shizune joined the Konoha ninja on their way back to the village.


	50. NNP

**Ninja people problems**

***Konoha*one week after Tsunade was found*One day since the return of Jiraya's Party*Coronation day***

Naruto and Fuu were holding in piggyback Konohamaru and Megumi respectively, watching as Tsunade gave her speech as the new fifth Hokage.

Megumi was looking at Tsunade with nothing but adoration on her eyes, and the day before she had been pestering her brother for how Tsunade was and what she liked to do, Naruto had answered with blunt honesty that she was a hag that liked to drink and gamble.

This had deflated the girl a lot, leaving her to sulk, until he told her of what she had done to Jiraya and how she had fought Orochimaru.

Konohamaru however, was not someone really happy right now, as they were finally giving the last thing, other than his head in the mountainside, which kept the memory of the Sandaime alive.

He had originally planned to barricade himself in the old office of Hiruzen so no one else could throw away the things from the old man, but his mother had told him that he had to go with the rest of the Sarutobi clan to the reading of the will of the old man.

Kon had gotten the pipe of the old man, and the scrying orb, but that had been kept by his mother.

So now he was watching dejectedly as Tsunade, wearing her normal attire with the only difference being that she had the conical Hokage hat on her head, the veil on it covering all but her face.

He had wanted that hat.

He would have to be the sixth Hokage.

"I promise you, citizens of Konoha, that I will do everything I can to run this village just like my predecessor did, with a firm hand and peace in mind for every decision" Tsunade finished her speech to the applause of the crowd.

The crowd started to disperse as Tsunade left the roof of the Hokage building, Jiraya, who had been watching from one of the many spikes of the building under his camouflage technique, following behind her, his illusion broken.

Naruto, Fuu, Haku and Hagane, the latter two of which had been watching the speech from some rows behind with Haku carrying Moegi, walked through the main road of the village, going to the onsen as per mutual agreement.

They all submerged in the boiling water, each on their side of the onsen, but the sighs of enjoyment could be heard from both sides of the screen.

"Say, Naruto, now that you're a chunnin, do you think you could take me out for a mission?" Hagane asked after a while of almost total silence in the baths, which were surprisingly empty, considering how hectic the last few weeks had been in Konoha.

"No!" Megumi shouted from the other side of the fence, "Onii-chan has to stay at home to train us"

"Yeah," Konohamaru agreed in a softer voice than Megumi, "you've been gone for a month, boss, Ebisu-baka tried to train us, all he gives us are the basics for the Leaf's taijutsu."

"Yeah, you left my training halfway!" Megumi yelled again, "you never told me how to complete your henge"

"That's because you don't have the chakra for that" Naruto sighed, "your reserves aren't big enough to compensate for your density"

"But I want to complete it, come on Nii-chan" Megumi whined, making Haku and Fuu smirk.

"How about something else?" Naruto purposed, not really wanting a discussion to break out.

"Like what?" Moegi asked before Megumi could, "could you teach us the substitution?"

"I can teach you that" Naruto agreed, thanking the girl mentally, "we start tomorrow"

"You know, if you were a few years older, you would be the brats' jonin sensei," Hagane commented.

"They would prefer me over Ebisu, that's for sure" Naruto agreed.

"That's because Ebisu is an idiot" Konohamaru complained, "he insults you and then insist I practice something I already know"

"Really now?" Hagane asked, "Think you can shut him up, kyofu?"

"Don't call me that" he growled, to the amusement of everyone else, "but no, not until I can stand on even footing with Kurenai-sensei or Yuugao-nee"

"Why don't you train with me?" Hagane asked Konohamaru.

"Because you're a pervert, mom says I have to keep away from those" Konohamaru answered.

"How do you know I'm a pervert?" Hagane asked, affronted. On the other side of the screen Haku and Fuu smiled amusedly.

"Because Naruto and Haku say so"

* * *

***Streets***

Naruto walked around the streets of Konoha after everyone else had gone back to the apartment complex, wanting a moment to him and using grocery shopping, done in several different faces and bodies, as an excuse as he had a lot of things on his head.

First of all was the fact that he would probably not be seeing Megumi a lot as he was a chunnin and was now required to take B-rank missions that could last up to months depending on the parameters, and unless he made jonin at sixteen and manage to be her sensei, the only time he would be seeing her were training with her and in-between missions.

The second thing on his mind were the missions themselves, he would be required to lead team eventually, and while he knew he could take charge, he doubted most of the chunnin other than the ones a few years older than him, Fuu, Shikamaru and Izumo and Kotetsu would listen to his orders, as most were old enough to know that he was a jinchuriki.

The third and last thing was the thing he and Jiraya had discussed a day before arriving to the village; the older man had told Naruto that he planned to teach the younger male all about his spy network, so the red-head could take over as soon as Jiraya retired from that, died, or went back to active roster, which meant that much like the older man, unless he managed to devise a way of getting into the other villages, he would have to travel around the world and meeting up with the spies.

It would be awesome to see the whole world, but that would mean that he would see the village only once every two months unless, once again, he managed to find a way to contact people over long distances or he somehow cracked the Hirainshin with nothing but photos and descriptions of the seals on the kunai the Fourth had used as markers.

Even so, he could not deny that following the steps of the man would amazing and that serving the leaf from outside of it with only the normal threats to deal with instead of ninja coming to kill him was tempting.

He more than anyone could appreciate the peace and quiet of the little moments in life, being treated as he was in his childhood had made him want those moments and look for them.

But he would rarely see his family, which was why Naruto had been hesitant in allowing Jiraya to teach him anything other than what he had already been, battle seals with the occasional tips to increase his control and skills.

He could take fast infiltration missions; those would be fun and easy considering all the pranks he had pulled around the village, but actually staying in a village that was not his for more than two months would not be something he was willing to do, not without being completely sure that the information was worth it.

He sighed and changed form again, this time going into a clothing store; his shirts were starting to get to tight for his liking.

* * *

***Hospital***

Sasuke Uchiha was not happy as he looked to the roof of his room at the hospital, the reason for that? His recent defeat at the hands of his older brother and only a few weeks after that at the hand of Aoi Rokusho, the man that had stolen the Raijin no Ken from Konoha before deflecting, at the mission his team had taken to Tea Country.

The first had not really been a bad defeat, his brother had just knocked him out cold and left him on the floor while he fought Jiraya, but that had been a blow to his pride, as he believed he had been strong enough, even if he hadn't been promoted to chunin, .

The second man had been thorough with his humiliation of the Uchiha in their confrontation in Tea County, leaving the survivor with scars on his torso that would never leave him as they were cauterized by the Raijin no Ken as it was a sword of pure lighting thanks to the seals that his teacher had later explained as he recovered the blade, were inscribed in the handle of the blade, under the cloth that covered it and gave better grip.

But by the end of his battle with the man, by the time that Kakashi Hatake had interfered, Sasuke was little more than a twitching mess with lots of cuts that were an awful color thanks to the power of the Nidaime's blade.

The worst part of that mission though, was that Inuzuka Kiba, the loser of the team, had managed to get their client's runner to the finish line, carrying both said teen and an injured Akamaru up hundreds of stairs that led to the finish line of the race that would decide who would rule Tea Country for the next year, beating the other runner by nearly ten minutes, while he fought Aoi and lost badly.

Then, as if to add insult to the injury, Kakashi had taken him to a cleaning job, only to discover that his and the Inuzuka's job, escorting the daughter of one of the Daimyo's court men, crossed paths somewhere because the girl had been kidnapped and taken to the same camp he and Kakashi were supposed to deal with, and the Inuzuka dealt with most of the opposition before he could jump in and execute the pan he and Hatake had agreed upon.

Uchiha Sasuke was not a happy man, not a happy man at all.

Maybe he would take Orochimaru's proposal.

The man did say he would make Sasuke powerful


	51. MoM

**Man on a misión**

***Konoha*Hokage Office*three weeks later***

"Chunnin Uzumaki, you are to lead a team towards Numa no Kuni, a crime lord has settled there and had threatened the current Daimyo with kidnapping of his children, you and your team are to guard the royal family while investigating the crime ring, and if possible destroying it" Tsunade told the red-head before her with her designated Hokage voice, "Any questions?"

"Do I get to pick my team?" Naruto asked his mind already in the candidates, the few that would obey him.

"No, you are going with Chunin Izumo, Chunin Kotetsu and Gennin Kosuke" Tsunade answered.

"That's the really old man right, the one that was a genin when the shodaime?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but that is because he never took the chunin exams, those that have worked with him agree that his skills are jonin level" Tsunade answered.

"So, other than the obvious, why not give command to him?" Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Because he has admitted repeatedly that he is a follower and not a leader" Tsunade once again answered Naruto's question.

"When do I meet them?"

"They're already waiting in the scroll room, dismissed" Naruto nodded and left the room, sighing at having to walk yet another flight of stairs.

When he reached the room in which his team for the mission was waiting, they were lounging and Kotetsu had passed the scroll to the Old man Kosuke, who looked much like he had the last time Naruto had seen him, which had been four months ago, still old, still with a cooking bowl on his back and still the eldest person in the village. Greetings flew around the room, and after Izumo had complained that he had to follow Naruto's lead, they left after agreeing to meet at the southern gate in one hour.

Exactly one hour later, after all farewells had been said to everyone's loved ones, with a promise from Naruto Naruto to take Fuu in a date and to spend a whole day with only Megumi and whoever turned up to the house and wherever they went, they left the village and started making their way way east towards the sea, as they had to take a boat towards the other mass of mainland past Mizu no Kuni to reach the Land of Swamps, a rather big country south of the land of bears.

There was little talk during the travel, other than the occasional question on history from the three chunnin to the gennin that had lived just as much if not more than the late third Hokage, and so had a lot of stories to tell the younger ninjas.

It took the team a total of four days, two of travel and two to find a boat that was willing to cross them either by the Land of Sea, which was experiencing a monster apparently, or by the Land of Water, which was currently, according to the captain of the ship they boarded, in the last stages of a civil war, with both of the opposing forces with low morale, one of the leaders already death and a lot of pockets of resistance, but according to the man, it had been the rebels that had killed the opposing leader in a battle that lasted three days and took hundreds of lives in both sides.

But the reason the captains had been reluctant to cross the ocean was because the loyalists had control of many of the islands that surrounded the biggest one of Mizu no Kuni and there had been a lot of rumors around that there were pirates that had been hired by said loyalists to take any and all supply ships that passed by the Land of Water's waters.

Fortunately for them, their two week travel was uneventful other than an encounter with a whale that swam alongside the boat for nearly a kilometer and a dangerously daring flying fish that decided that Kotetsu's head was the perfect place to get more momentum.

The travel on the other continent, however, was very much eventful, as they were attacked by several packs of wolfs, they walked into a puma's den, ran into a bear and its cub, a rabid squirrel and a crocodile when they got to the Swamp Country, three bandit settlements and two missing nin of C-rank, not the most eventful of missions, but a fairly eventful considering it was the first time Naruto did a mission as a chunnin.

Through it all Izumo and Kotetsu showed their impressive teamwork while fighting off all the dangerous animals that attacked them on their treck through the Underworld ccontinent while Kosuke showed that a cooking instrument could be as deadly as any kunai or shuriken,as his animal body ount was as high as Izumo and Kotetsu's combimed, impresive as he used only a wooden ladle and an iron cooking bowl as weaponry, while Naruto had the third biggest count, with only Izumo behind him.

So it was a tired and somewhat weary team that walked into the throne room of the Swamp's Daimyo, but ninjas they were, and undignified entrances they did not do, so as soon as they were acknowledged, they bowed to the feudal Lord.

* * *

***Konoha*same time*Uchiha compound***

Uchiha Sasuke had been off duty for two weeks, ever since he and Inuzuka Kiba had had a fight in the roof of the hospital where he had tried to use the chidori on Kiba, while the Inuzuka used a Tsuuga to try and dodge the blow, but their sensei, Hatake Kakashi, had interfered and stopped both attacks with one hand each.

And so he had been put on probation for trying out an A-rank jutsu on a comrade.

Those two weeks he spent training, pushing his mind and body to the limit, trying to learn everything that the Uchiha library had to offer, but not once did he pass his limit, not once did he try to put a new, higher bar to reach, so when someone else, the subordinates of the Snake sannin, Orochimaru, offered to take him to Oto, to train under said man, he let them take him.

"Why do we have to take this fucker again?" asked the only girl of the group, a red-head with a cap on her head and a bang covering her nose.

"Because Orochimaru-sama wants him" a fat boy answered, pausing for a second, "also, you shouldn't swear Tayuya, it's unbecoming of a lady"

"Fuck you, fatso, I do what I want" the red-head shot back.

"Shut up, both of you, we need to hurry to the border, Kimimaro must be waiting for us already" the apparent leader of the team, a guy with a bow on his back, stopped the two before they could start arguing.

The fourth and last member of the just smirked and followed the boy with the bow.

* * *

***Hokage's office***

"TSUNADE-SAMA" Shizune came running into the room, "We found a dead ANBU platoon near the Uchiha compound, Uchiha Sasuke is missing and the only signs of struggle are with the ANBU"

"GET NARA SHIKAMARU, NOW" Tsunade snapped out after a few moments which Shizune used to catch he breath.

One of the ANBU guards left the room through the window,, presumably after Shikamaru, while Shizune stayed in the office.

* * *

***Numa no Kuni***

The Daimyo had given them a very warm welcome, with a feast to…celebrate, that the end of the crime lord that had threatened his family was in the horizon. No one of the shinobi wanted to point out that it would probably take a month to kill the criminal, but if angering a leader was on the opposite hand, then there would be nothing to contradict the Daimyo.

During the meal Izumo and one of the daughters of the Daimyo, the eldest, stroke up a conversation while Kotetsu ate all the food with gusto and Kosuke talked to the Daimyo, who he apparently knew from his time under the third, before the first retirement of the man.

Naruto was the only person not talking, instead ignoring with all his might the flirting of the younger daughter of the Daimyo, who was two years older than he was, and instead listening to the heir, a boy four years his senior that was into swordsmanship, talk about different kinds of blades and their advantages.

"So, you ninjas use the ninja-to, or the chokuto, and those are good for you, 'cause they're short and fast, but for everyday battle a broadsword, or a bastard sword, is better" the teen was broad shouldered with big arms and long brown hair pulled into a pony-tail.

"Yeah, but those are heavy to carry around, hell, you could use them as a back support if they are long enough" Naruto told the teen who shrugged and moved his head, smirking at his sister.

"Yeah, but in the long run you spend less in maintenance, though for a really expensive weapon you buy a sabre, those things break in seconds"

"You have experience with that?"

"Yup, I train with the samurai corps, I'm being considered for Captain, youngest ever in peace time"

"That's nice, so, what sword do you think would work best for me?" Naruto asked the teen.

"Flex your muscles" Naruto did so, "something fast, a sai, or a stiletto," the teen unrolled a scroll on his pocket and showed Naruto a picture of those two blades, "anything fast and short, you peg me as a hit-and-run kind of guy"

"I think this will work better for me" Naruto said with a smile, calling out one of his claws.

The swordsman blinked, "DAMN, dude, do you have any idea how cool that is, you've to tell me how to do it."

"It's a bloodline; I'm the last of my clan, so I'm probably going to be the last to do this for another few decades."

"It's rare, I take it" the teen commented.

"One in a generation" Naruto confirmed.

"Right, now that you are all fed" the Daimyo stood up, "we need to discuss how you plan to take down my uncle"


	52. Rise of a criminal

**The rise of a criminal**

***Numa no Kuni***

"What do you mean, your brother threatened you?" Kotetsu asked incredulously.

"Yes," the Daimyo answered, "my brother suffered a great disappointment when I was crowned"

* * *

***Thirty years earlier***

My brother and I were really close, even though I am five years older than he is, we spent a lot of time together; we learnt swordplay together, etiquette, politics and the ins and outs of how to rule a country.

I am the eldest, my mother could no longer give birth after my brother was born, so my father tried to spoil us as much as he could, but my mother always came in if it left the realm of reason, so we were never left wanting, but we were never raised badly.

I was not the perfect heir though, more than once I left the palace alone, many times I caught with my pants down when I reached my teens, my temper left many things to be desired and my mind was not much for strategy as it was for action, my brother however, was another story altogether. He was perfect for the role of heir during his teens: good mind, good body, great charisma, he was never caught in a scandal, the only thing I was better at than him was politics and swordplay.

When I reached seventeen, even after all that I had been involved in, my father named me the official heir to the throne, and for a while all was well, the tittle calmed me down somehow, and I stopped giving so many problems.

Then my brother reached that age, and with it his ambition of becoming the next Daimyo.

He started challenging me, first with debates of why he would be a better leader, then he took it up with father, until he snapped and demanded a duel for the heir tittle.

"You will not destroy this land" was what he claimed when he asked for the duel.

My father was adamant in not letting it take place, but a duel is a duel, ignoring it would have stripped me of what honor I had left, and so, against what my father wanted, we fought. The only thing Father managed to change was making us fight with boken instead of proper swords.

It was a long battle, we fought for nearly an hour, and by the end of it both of us had many broken bones and bruises, my brother showed me that hard work and guts can be better that just talent and determination, but in the end I managed to pull off a win that even now feels as a fluke in skill, the biggest ever, I tripped forward and hit his windpipe with my boken, I crushed his vocal chords and he had to learn sign language. That was when he started feeling resentful towards me.

I then met my beautiful wife three years, my brother and I were already in bad terms, but when she came into the picture it became even worse.

Even now, breathtaking as you are, my love, you still take my breath away just like the first time I saw you, but you came in when all my family was present, and brother fell in love with you too, it helped that you knew sign language and could communicate with him; he wanted you just as I did.

But I was faster, I asked you out that dinner without taking into account what my brother could think, but I don't regret it, you've made me a happy man, the happiest in the country, but it broke my brother's heart when you said yes, and when we finally married, he glared at me with eyes I never want to see again.

I think he finally snapped when you were born, son, he could not stand that I got the woman of his dreams, that I took the throne and that I left him without anyone who could understand him, so he dropped from the map, I hadn't heard anything from him until four years ago, when we met accidentally in a bar on one of my incognito nights, when he threatened to kill me if he ever saw me, but I ignored that and I asked how his life was going.

He had traveled the world for a long while, until eventually he came across your current Hokage, he told me that he beat her in a bet with the steaks being that she heal his voice chords if he won or him being her slave for a month if she did, he won, and he left her in the night after his throat was healed.

After that he came back to the country and started gathering forces, but that he didn't tell me, that was something my general told me, that the criminal ring was being unified, and after my brother threatened me I knew it was him it clicked.

I talked to him a long while after my revelation, I tried to make him come back to the palace but he denied, he said that he had already made a name for himself, that only increased my suspicions, I knew that he was the criminal lord that was uniting the underworld, and two weeks ago it all came together and I knew that he was the one threatening my family

* * *

***Present***

"So I hired you to deal with him, maybe years in prison could set my brother straight" the Daimyo finished his tale

"You never told me that" the Daimyo's wife whispered, "you never told me that about your brother"

"I didn't want to tell you, I thought he would come back to his senses" the Daimyo answered, "But he didn't, he threatened, I was supposed to keep this quiet according to him, but I won't subject to him"

"So, what's the plan, boss-boy?" Kotetsu asked Naruto who looked at the Daimyo.

"Who did the card threaten?" he asked.

"He said that he would go for my son first and then my daughters" the Daimyo answered.

'_Two and two, you reckon?'_ Naruto asked his tenants.

"_**No, keep them all together, same room, same space, somewhere you can see them**_**" **Kurama answered, "_**A room with no windows would be the best, but one with only one window would be good too"**_

"_Kurama is right, son, in this kind of missions you are better off in closed spaces, but big enough for a battle_" Kushina continued

"Okay, you three will have to move to the same room" he pointed at the heir and his sisters, Kosuke, Izumo and Kotetsu will guard you during the day, you'll have to make you schedules match, we'll guard together during the nights, I'll search for this guy during the day, sorry guys, but you suck at infiltration" Izumo and Kotetsu shrugged, "Kosuke, I'm leaving you as second in command"

"I don't think you should, young man, I'm not leader material" Kosuke answered.

"I don't know what happened to you, but you're as old as Jiji was, you have experience and skill, you are going to be second in command," Naruto snapped, making Kosuke sigh, "Daimyo-sama, you and your wife should have guards posted around you at all times"

"We already have, young man, but we will keep it in mind," the Daimyo answered.

"What else, what else, what else?" Naruto muttered to himself, "Guard in the towers at all times, someone to use as a spy, that can be me, a clone, bloodclone, I have three of those still, bird's eye view" he snapped his eyes, "what is the tallest, thinnest place in the castle?" he asked the Daimyo

The man thought on it for a while with his hand on his chin, "The north tower would be that place, its diameter is twenty at the tallest room, the roof is twenty feet higher than and thins out fast"

"Two blood clones then, where to post the third, back up? No, I work better at infiltrating alone, the door? Already too many guards, unless he brings an army, it would be overkill, good" He kept muttering, finally letting out a long sigh, "Alright, we start tomorrow"

* * *

***Konoha*Hokage's office***

"Chunnin Nara, Chunnin Fuu, you two will lead a team made of anyone you can rendezvous with under thirty minutes, you will go northeast towards Rice country and retrieve Uchiha Sasuke from whoever has him imprissioned, do not take too long, if they can make it to the border then they are not to be perused, we cannot afford a war" the two cunning nodded and left through the window, both in different directions, both with their choices in mind.

* * *

***Shikamaru*Hyuuga compound***

"Neji, I'll need your help" Shikamaru dropped through the window of said boy's room, "Sasuke was captured, we need to track him, otherwise he'll be Orochimaru's"

"And you think I can help, how?" nevertheless he started gathering his equipment, "I am no chunnin yet"

"Yes, but you have the best mind after mine and I'm pretty sure you could beat me" Shikamaru answered, "meet me at the north gate in one hour tops" he left the same way he came in.

"This will be interesting" Neji said to the empty room.

* * *

***Inuzuka compound***

"Danm, did they have to all be out" Shikamaru muttered to himself.

"What do need, boy?" Shikamaru turned around to see a man with two dogs by his side, both as long as Shikamaru was tall.

"One of you, Tsunade's orders, we need your help to help us track someone" Shikamaru answered.

"And this came from Tsunade herself?" the adult Inuzuka asked, "Well, can't really ignore the Hokage can I, what rank are you, kid?"

"Chunnin, just promoted"

"Then I'm taking over, you're now serving under Inuzuka Tenshin, jonin of Konoha," the man pointed to himself, "Lead the way boy, we need to gather, right?"

* * *

***Fuu*Uzumaki complex***

"Hagane, Haku, come out NOW!" the two teens took a few minutes to get out of their rooms, their expressions sleepy, "get dressed, fast, I need you for a mission"

"Why's that, why wake us up, can't it wait?" Hagane complained.

"No it can't," Fuu snapped, "the Uchiha boy was captured by Orochimaru's lackeys, we need to get to them, NOW"

The two teens nodded sharply and went back to their rooms five minutes later, both of them in their battle gear, "When do we leave?" Hagane asked in his battle voice.

"Now" Fuu answered.

* * *

***North gate*ten minutes later***

"Not the ideal team" Tenshin said as he saw the three gennin and two chunnin assembled before him, "well, all of you were finalists in the chunnin exam, so I can't complain, listen up runts! If I know you like I think I know you, none of you have taken part of an A-rank mission, so I'll talk you through the basics: number one; you lack speed and you'll be left behind, Number two; You follow my orders no matter how bad they sound, if I say fight, then you fight, number three and the most important; Do Not Give the enemy a chance to survive," the jonin turned to one of his dogs, a greyhound, "Hayaimaru, run to Suna, get this to their leader, we'll need backup" the dog barked an affirmative and took off directly to the west in a speed that even Genshin could barely follow, "Okay runts, let's go" he took off and the others soon followed, none of them struggling to keep up the pace.

In front of the group Genshin grinned: a traitor would die today if had any say, the Uchiha clan had killed one of his partners, now he would make sure that no Uchiha would ever live again.

* * *

**That is it for this week, I do not know what will be the focus of next chapter but I do know that I want to be original.**

**Now, as of today, this story has 356 followers and 337 favorites, so I want to send a thank you to all that have selected this for either option, I never thought it would get to be so popular.**


	53. Manhunt

**Manhunt**

***Forests of Hi no Kuni*midnight***

"Enough rest, we need to get moving, Kimimaro should be impatient enough as it is" the man with the bow on his back said.

"Heh, Bone-man will find a fucking reason to screw us anyway" nevertheless the red-head stood up from the basket where she had been sitting.

"You need to curse less, Tayuya," the big man with little hair said, his head shaking.

"Shut up, you know she won't stop, Jirobo, stop wasting breath" the only dark-skinned of the group, a man with four arms and black hair, said as he lifted the basket to his back with one of his pairs of arms.

"Listen to Shitstain, Fatso, he's already accepted that" the red-head grinned.

"All of you shut up and get moving, we're already being followed" the last of the group, a guy with two heads looked around and blocked a senbon coming to one of his necks, "and they've cached up" the six members of the Konoha ream burst through the undergrowth, "I assume you've come for Orochimaru-sama's price"

"Give us Uchiha Sasuke and go back to your base" the leader, Genshin, said, "unless you want it to make it painful to you, that works for me too"

"Well, I don't know; how about we take him with us and all of you die?" Jirobo asked, shoving his hands on the ground and making a dome rise around the Konoha ninja, "you guys go ahead, I'll enjoy my meal" the Sound Four leader nodded and left the area, leaving a smirking almost bald guy behind.

Ten minutes later, however, much to the surprise of the bulky man, an iron pillar broke through the stone dome and all the Konoha ninja escaped it, following behind the sound four while the one that had punched through the dome stayed behind and attacked Jiroboo, "Say, are you strong enough to beat me?" And he rushed to the semi-bald guy with his arms bladed.

* * *

***Sound Four***

"Damn it, they're still on our tail" Sakon cursed.

"How? Fatso had then trapped" Tayuya asked in disbelief.

"How should I know, they're the first ones to ever break out of his jutsu" Sakon answered.

"If they catch up again I'll stay behind" Kidomaru said, "Even if they broke through his jutsu my spider webs should be more than enough to keep them occupied"

"Fine, but you'll be on your own, we have to reach Kimimaro if we want help" Sakon groaned, "And don't expect us to save your ass"

The air was tense, one could feel that they were stressed, hurried to get to their waiting leader, who without a doubt was already waiting for them at the border of the Land of Fire with their own Land of Rice, the group didn't stop for anything, dancing around the trees that threatened to hit them more than once, but luck was not with them that day, as when the hour hit they had been caught again, but just as he had said, Kidomaru stalled them by trapping them in a web that stood up to the impact of the ninjas at high speed.

The Konoha ninja proved to be more than smart enough to get out that sticky situation, as one of them used a technique to form a chakra sphere that destroyed the web around them and two of them kept the Oto shinobi at bay while the other three kept moving forward, trying to catch up to the Sound Four, who once again were ahead of them by minutes.

"I hope you are ready, Haku-san" one of the Konoba ninja said, the one with long hair and white eyes.

"Of course I am, Neji-san" the other, girly one with dark eyes and hair, answered, "But we have to be quick"

* * *

***Konoha ninja***

_'Down to three already_' Genshin thought _'two more people in that team plus the leader if what I heard was right, so that makes one for each of us if the Suna reinforcements don't arrive soon, I have to make sure the Uchiha can't use his junk again, which means I have to be the last one on the pursuit_' "Keep it up team, Nara, you're getting the next one that tries to stal us" Shikamaru nodded

"Don't you think we should have caught up to them by now?" Fuu asked

"You're right, they got only one minute on them" Genshin said, "We shouldn't have caught up to them already," the jonin looked at Fuu.

"Already on it" the kunoichi made the tiger seal and gathered her chakra, letting it out in one large pulse, letting them out of the illusion to see the only girl of the Sound Four with a flute hanging lazily from her fingers and a smirk on her face, "And fuckers dare to say the genjutsu is useless," she commented smugly.

"Nara, deal with her, girl, move it" Genshin threw a kunai at the girl, distracting her long enough for the two of them to leave the place and start chasing the remaining ninja of the Sound.

Because of the circles that Tayuya had made them trace the chase was longer than what it should have been, Sankon and Ukon had more than ten minutes in them,but while the Sound ninja were delayed by the basket that contained Sasuke, the Konoha ninja were free to move at top speed, allowing them to get to the sound ninja before he crossed the border, two kilometers inside the Land of Fire

"Girl, by the time we catch up to them we'll already be out of the forest, by then the leader will have arrived, I want you to take care of the guy with the two heads wile I deal with the leader, don't interfere in my fight even if you finish yours first, I don't want you to get in the way, chase the Uchiha if he breaks out though, immobilize him" Genshin ordered and once again Fuu refrained from saying anything.

Sure enough, once they caught up a pale man was taking the basket away and instead of a single, two-headed man there were two men standing there, "Tsuyoimaru, human beast mimicry, help the girl, I'll move on" the dog caught a pill his owner threw at him and transformed into a perfect, if more feral, copy of Genshin, who the rushed off to meet the man that now carried the basket.

'_This isn't good, I smelt the foul chakra inside that basket, when he breaks out he'll continue on his own and unless I kill the leader fast I won't be able to catch up, we need the backup._'

A mile from the Valley of the end if his calculations were right, Genshin caught up to the teenager that was carrying the seal-covered basket inside of which the Uchiha rested, "Give that thing to me now, unless you'd rather die painfully"

"My master is waiting for me," the man in front of him spoke, "His new vessel must reach Orochimaru-sama before dawn or it will be too late and he will have to wait."

"I couldn't care less for what the traitor wants, hand over Uchiha Sasuke" Genshin growled.

The Sound ninja looked at the basket, which had started to emit a black light, "it seems I only have to delay you" the wood exploded showing a glaring Sasuke, "Go towards that direction until you hit the border, Kabuto-san should be waiting for you already" the dark-haired grunted and started running in said direction.

"Fuck, guess I'll kill you fast" the jonin got into a stance, "Unless you want to kill yourself, that'd be great" It was morning already.

* * *

***Numa no Kuni*Morning***

The night had not been what one would call comfortable; it had been terribly awkward for the siblings, children of the Daimyo, to sleep with people that could level the room with a few hand movements, men they had met the night before. The heir had no real problem, more than once he had spent the night in the barracks of the castle guards, so changing from his day clothes to his nightwear had been just another thing to do, the sisters, daughters of a nobleman that had only slept with their mother in case of nightmares and with no male watching had been thoroughly embarrassed when not only their brother but three of the ninja stayed on the room when they changed into their pajamas.

Chivalry had been present though, and by making a pentagon inside which the girls changed while the men watched the walls some of the embarrassment had been spared, but not all of it, especially because one of the ninja was a man on his seventies, but considering that there was a possibility, however slim, of their uncle sneaking in and kidnapping them it was a necessary evil.

Breakfast got rid of that awkwardness, however, as the conversation became light hearted and the roles at dinner came back, with Izumo and Mayuri, the eldest daughter, flirting, Naruto talking to Hayate, the heir and Tsubaki trying to flirt with Naruto.

After breakfast, Naruto roamed the palace and unsealed his blood-clones at different locations; one in the tallest tower, one in the barracks and one with his team, while he left the palace under one of his henge, to appear to be a man in his late thirties, and went into the worst part of the town near the castle, where crime was a common thing, no matter how much the authorities wanted to enforce the law.

He entered a bar with little light and took out a kunai from one of the inner pockets of the coat his disguise was wearing, twirling it as he sat down in one of the booths at the back, calling one of the bartenders a minute after only observing the crowd gathered, the people doing the same to him, "Give me a beer, the coldest you have" he grunted out when the waiter came close.

"Certainly sir, but, if I may suggest you hide that knife, it attracts attention"

"Who says I care? I can defend myself, even without it"

"As you say, sir, I'll bring you your drink then" the waiter scurried off.

"So you think you can fight?" a man plopped down on the other side of the table, "One thinks twice before saying that in places like this"

"I don't say anything I don't mean," the beer arrived and Naruto downed half the glass in one go, "I made my way here from Claw alone"

"Escaping the conflict with Fang, are you?" the man ordered a bottle of sake.

"Escaping the samurai there, more like it" Naruto answered, "I stole some jewels from under their noses; they were guarding it for the royal wedding"

"A thief are yah?" the man snorted, "and a skilled fighter apparently, tell you what, my leader is looking up people like you, go to the warehouse three blocks from here at dusk, recruits enter at that hour, I'll put up a good word for you, if you show me how good you can handle alcohol"

"If you pay for it" Naruto drained the last of the beer and called the waiter over, "I won't pay for any of your ideas"


	54. Live or Die

**Live or Die**

***Forests of Hi no Kuni*Morning*Hagane vs Jirobo**

The two men, one from Oto and one from Konoha, stared each other down, one with KI in his eyes and the other with eagerness, "So, fat guy, are the strongest of your group?" Hagane started to change his limbs into clubs, "if not then move along, I gotta catch up with my group"

"As if, you won't get past my Arhat Fist style" Jirobo slid into a stance with his arms and legs far apart, "You'll meet your end today"

"Yeah, not" Hagane threw his club forward and hit Jirobo with it, but the bald man clutched it and lifted it over his head, with Hagane still attached to it, bringing it down with all the force the fat man could muster, resulting in a giant dust cloud.

Jirobo leaned on one leg and crossed his arms while smirking, "idiot, you didn't stand a chance" a barrage of knifes came out of the smoke, catching the Oto ninja off guard and managing to get two of them embed on his arms.

"Yes, I imagine, that's why you haven't hit me once and I've gotten you twice" Hagane came out rushing from the dust that had yet to settle, his arms transformed into spiked clubs and ready to smash them into Jirobo.

The ginger dodged to the side and slammed his knee in Hagane's back, making the Kinzoku face plant, but the man got up as soon as he hit the ground, dodging Jirobo's foot as it tried to smash him into the Earth.

Hagane tried to smash his arms into Jorobo, but the man ducked under it and elbowed Hagane on his side, sending the Konoha ninja flying away. Hagane righted himself mid-air, once again changing the form of his arms and sending forward a spear on target with Jirobo.

The Oto shinobi did a hand-seal and slammed his foot on the ground in front of him, making a wall of rock rise like a trapdoor from the ground, the large slab of rock catching the spearhead a few inches before it impacted with Jirobo, allowing the man enough time to form another set of hand-seals.

"Doton: Sphere of Gravestones" from the ground he pulled out a gigantic ball of stone, the size alone being enough to shock Hagane into stillness, yet Jirobo was lifting it with ease, throwing it at Hagane with just one hand, as he were throwing nothing more than a baseball.

The Kinzoku managed to pull himself together at the very last second, when the boulder was almost upon him, using a hasty shunshin to move where there was no chance of the boulder hitting him, appearing just as the boulder tore trees apart.

"Why are you hiding?" a voice spoke from over his shoulder, so Hagane thrust one of his arms backwards, making Jirobo give out a grunt, "okay, not my best idea, but you are death anyway" Jirobo punched Hagane on the back of his head, sending Zabuza's ex-apprentice flying forward, but not before he twisted the wound, sending blood spurting from Jirobo's side.

Hagane stood up slowly, wincing when he felt blood trickling down his forehead, "I've never been more thankful for my bloodline," he moved his finger down his nose, "metal skeleton IS an advantage" he could already feel the bruise forming, maybe a contusion, "Nothing Haku or Zabuza haven't done, I won't be much help," he looked at the tree where Jirobo's corpse lay, "I guess information will be worth it" he limped his way forward, "I'll need a night at the hospital"

A pressure made him look back, where a purple cloud of chakra could be seen, "I'm not done yet," the ginger became bigger and his skin had turned brown, he had activated the second stage of the cursed seal.

Hagane's thoughts could be summed up in one word.

Fuck

Hagane dodged to the side barely in time to dodge Jirobo's massive fist, changing his arms to have blades on the outside and trying to slash at Jirobo, but the man caught them and brought Hagane in to deliver a strong knee that served to take his breath away, but having experienced worse at Zabuza's blade he recovered fast enough to block another knee with a metal-reinforced shin, making Jirobo draw back to rub his now throbbing knee.

Hagane didn't allow the Oto ninja time to recover, coming close immediately, moving around his opponent every time he moved his blade-arms in offence, not giving Jirobo any chance to fight back as the blades, while not cutting deeply thanks to the protection offered by the cursed seal, were certainly annoying and prevented sudden movements while stinging thanks to the dirt Hagane was lifting with all his footwork.

Eventually the Kinzoku had to stop, having already cut Jirobo all over, but the Oto ninja was more than resilient enough to stand all that punishment, so when the onslaught stopped he punched Hagane on the shoulder with enough strength to dislocate his shoulder, rendering his left arm useless, but while he could no longer move it on his own, momentum would that for him.

Leaning away from an elbow strike from Jirobo, Hagane used his right arm to attach himself to the Oto ninja and moved his upper body to swing his dangling arm until it was firmly inside Jirobo's skull, "I win," Hagane said, collapsing on a tree while holding his chest and shoulder, "I'm so going to need a hospital," most of his ribs were cracked, he had a contusion, his shoulder was dislocated, he was pretty sure some organs were displaced, some internal bleeding, at least he had some herbs Haku insisted he carry always, that should help with something.

* * *

***Haku and Neji vs. Kidomaru***

"So, you're the ones I have to fight, two girls, Tayuya will be mad when I tell her, then again, she'll be mad no matter what I tell her" The four-armed man chewed on something when he finished speaking, allowing the two Konoha ninja to attack him, but neither of the two did, even if Neji was visibly annoyed.

"I am a boy, and you won't live to tell your comrade nothing" Neji slid into his Jyuken stance and Haku took out several senbon, one between each finger, "tell us what you planned to do with Uchiha Sasuke"

"How about no, and if you are a boy then you should cut you hair, or make it spiky" the man continued chewing before he puffed out his cheek, pointing at them with two fingers.

He suddenly spit out a lot of webbing, almost catching the Konoha ninja on it, "Like that? Part of my bloodline" still he chewed on, not at all bothered by the fact that web had come out of his mouth, a single thread hanging from his mouth.

"Neji-san, you engage him, I shall provide support" Haku took aim and threw her senbon at the boy with the bow, but the man spit on one his right hands and a dark-yellow gauntlet covered it, something that he then used to catch the senbon Haku had thrown.

Neji meanwhile rushed at Kidomaru, his hands glowing blue with chakra and his byakugan bulging, already starting to see all the tenketsu on Kidomaru's extra arms and making a path on his mind for his hands to follow.

Kidomaru spit out again, sending a blob of webbing at Neji, who moved out of the way as soon as his feet hit a branch, resuming his way to his target, getting close to the tanned man and striking him twice on his right shoulders before ducking under a hook the Oto ninja had created with his spit.

Haku was forming needles of ice to launch at the ninja, but he dodged by twisting so that they were on target with Neji instead of him, but the teen managed to surprise him by using the rotation in the narrow branch, stopping the ice needles and making Kidomaru get a chakra burn on his leg, making him stop in another branch for a second, a second that Haku used to throw ice needles at him, getting him on all his front with at least five dozen, "That was easier than I expected" Neji jumped down from the branch and landed next to Haku.

"He was outnumbered, therefore out-skilled, his chances would have been better had we both attacked him at close range" he pushed Haku out of the way and performed another rotation, stopping a yellow arrow from skewering him through the skull, "but it seems this is not over"

On the branch was a transformed Kidomaru, now with eight arms and a demonic appearance, with a bow on two hands and the string between his teeth, "You'll die now" that was all he said before firing another arrow.

The two moved away from its path and once again moved in different directions, Haku taking some steps backwards while Neji ran up the trees and jump off of branches to get high enough to reach Kidomaru.

The now spider-ninja fired many arrows in quick succession, alternating between Neji and Haku, the latter of which was using one hand to dodge and the other to form hand-seals, doing them slowly because of her need to focus on the fast-moving projectiles.

The Hyuuga got in close again, trying to close the tenketsu near the curse-mark so it would no longer be useful, but the guy was faster with four legs than with the normal amount, so he simply pursued until the monster was in a place where Haku would be able to hit him.

Apparently it was alright as long as Neji kept himself out of Haku's range, as the girl had finished her string of one-handed seals, "Hyoton: Piercing Spears" from the tree came several spears thjat killed the wood on their origin.

The spears served their purpose though, and impaled Kidomaru's legs on their tiniest spots, where the plating was the thinnest and easy to pierce, effectively trapping him on the spot, the next barrage of spears, this time made faster, caught him on all of his shoulders, leaving him without movement on them.

"You are within the field of my divination" Neji started his assault, not stopping once and attacking more times than he ever had, a grand total of two hundred and fifty six palm strikes, ending with a double strike at the chest, blowing up Kidomaru's heart.

"I say it again, that was easier than expected" Haku jumped to the tree and searched for Kidomaru's pulse, not finding any.

"He was badly matched, against your friend he would have had better chances," Neji started walking down the tree, "That said, anyone with the ability to keep him from moving would have won, anyone that has the ability to keep his mouth from opening, he was the worst of the four we are chasing, even the female would have had a better sot against us"

"Why is that?" Haku asked, forgoing walking down the trunk and jumping to the ground.

Neji didn't look at her, just narrowing his eyes, "She has a summon and powerful genjutsu, I'll go forward and see if I can aid in any way, you go back to your friend, he is not moving" that was enough to send Haku running towards the part of the forest where Hagane had his fight, leaving Neji alone, "This was too easy, how did he make it to Orochimaru's elite?"

* * *

***Fuu vs. Sakon and Ukon***

Fuu had been in the defensive for most of the fight, her opponent being too fast for her to handle, plus their ability to gain arms or legs at a moment's notice made their movements unpredictable, leaving her unable to block effectively, so she had more bruises than her opponents, she was only able to fight because the Schichibi was healing her between punches.

Sakon also seemed to be sadistic at his core, wearing a face of twisted amusement throughout the fight, particularly whenever he delivered an especially hard punch, the kind that left her without breath for a few seconds, or the ones that knocked her away flying.

She had been able to get a few punches in though, and those were enough to give her a few seconds of breathing room, but he recovered fast, just as fast as he moved, if things kept up like they had been going, then it would not take long for her to fall, and she had no plans of doing that, not when she was thirteen.

So she ran, confident that she would be fast enough to get to a place where the terrain, really varied in those parts of Fire Country, would be on her favor, like a ravine where she could use her earth jutsu with gravity on her side, or a place with lots of spiked rocks.

Her wind affinity also helped her, using the Great Breakthrough she was not only able to stall her opponent but give herself boosts, but only some, she didn't want her reserves, as thick as they were, running low, not when she would probably be needed for later on.

Eventually she reached a cliff with a small stream running at its bottom, and she had enough time to make seals for one of her earth jutsu, "Doton: spearhead formation" she whispered, holding the last seal of the chain, allowing the chakra to build until Sakon and Ukon returned, making the stone area larger and denser, until a minute later Sakon arrived.

Thousands of spears either rose from the floor or emerged from the cliff face, all aiming at the member of the sound Four, who was unable to stop his jump towards Fuu and therefore impaled all over by the pencil thin spears, yet he didn't look like he would stop, if anything he looked more eager.

His cursed mark exploded, making both his heads turn demonic in appearance and a single horn to grow on each, but one disappeared while the body walked backwards, the wounds sealing as the spears left his back.

Fuu, on a hunch more than anything, started pulling on the Seven-Tails' chakra, the shroud taking no time in sprouting, giving Fuu the appearance of having a beetle's shell.

A head grew from her shoulder, the head that had been on Sakon's nape, screaming itself off, repeating, "STOP IT" over and over again, the red skin bubbling and the horn getting blacker by the second, until it disappeared again and went back into Sakon's body, "Don't ever make me go into a body like hers"

Sakon grunted, "Jinchuriki" that made it harder for him, especially now that Ukon would be more or less useless, even with the second stage cursed seal, the corrosive damage of a youki shroud was crippling until treated, and even then it had to be treated from one hour to twenty four, depending on how many tails and which Biju it was from, Ukon had five hours at best.

Fuu, enjoying a speed boost, jumped to the cliff face and off of it towards Sakon, who was now fully free of the spears, but now in a match between equals in both speed and power, as the shell that surrounded Fuu made her tougher and his punches felt like they were hitting metal.

No matter what he did though, summoning Ukon's limbs, using more of the cursed mark's chakra, not even using his one jutsu besides the kawarimi, seemed to help him, whenever he used the mud clone Fuu destroyed it in a second before going at him again.

The girl however, seemed to forget all but one of her jutsu, and even then it was more like using the remnants of her only jutsu used through the battle to get herself a weapon, using two of the spears still there to impale her opponent whenever she could, whether he was a clone or not, and so Sakon now had a lot of nicks and holes on his body, and though the cursed mark had given him extra resilience he was still starting to suffer from blood loss, so it was to no surprise that nearly an hour into the battle, when it started to rain, that he fell from it, Fuu soon stabbing both his necks when they were down, leaving them without a way to breathe

Then she collapsed, not being used to the cloak, even on its first level, it putting more strain than she was used to, as she normally just used enough for her eyes to change, she would have to start using more.

Moving along the cliff she entered a cave on the side of it, sitting with her back to the rock of the cliff, trying to catch her breath.

That was how Kankuro of the Sand found her when he arrived, so he decided to take her to Konoha by use of chakra strings

* * *

***Genshin vs. Kimimaro***

Genshin was no longer there, instead of him there was a large, two-headed dog of pure black color with different colors of eyes on each head, and the dog was also walking on two legs, clawing at a brown-skinned Kimimaro who had a sawed bone on his hand.

The Oto ninja was bleeding mainly on his chest while Genshin had cuts all over, ranging from thin and shallow cuts to deep and bleeding pierces, and his maw was dripping blood.

The two jonin shinobi panted for a second before rushing at each other again, Genshin having to dodge or back up more than once because of the bones that protruded randomly from Kimimaro's body, dances, he called them, pain, that was what they caused when they hit, and the constantly changing terrain was no help, many trenches had been dug already by Genshin using his Tsuuga on that form and sometimes bones as tall as Kimimaro were dug deep.

A black form smashed into Genshin, making a third head grow, the fur to darken and his legs to become more muscular, just as his arms. Sand rose from behind Kimimaro, but the man dodged it, only to duck under a kick from a green blur, Rock Lee had been assigned as reinforcement, Gaara of the Sand had intercepted Genshin's dog miles away and had decided to go back towards the source to help.

"Konoha ninja, follow your target, I will take care of him" Gaara dissolved his, Genshin growled but left the area running, wanting to get to his target before it could leave the country.

Ten minutes of tree jumping later, Genshin breached through the tree line of the Valley of the End, roaring as he saw nothing but the statues of Madara and Hashirama: his prey had escaped the country, there was no way he could catch up, not when the rain and humidity in the air started to erase the trail, he would need visual contact to follow in this conditions.

The distractions had taken too long.

* * *

**The things skipped happened as normal**


End file.
